The Credit Card Crunch
CBS
Transcript
Diana concade of Maple Grove Minnesota always pays her bills on time but that didn't stop Sear's MasterCard from cutting her credit limit in half they had reviewed my account and since I did not use my credit limit they were going to decrease it to reduce their risk credit card companies are taking drastic steps even if they hurt good customers to protect themselves from a rising wave of defaults credit card companies have uh are facing about four $4 billion in credit card losses this year and that number May double next year that's because more consumers are falling deeper in debt the average American has nine credit cards and owes more than $116,000 and that doesn't include mortgages people have been spending far more than the growth in their wages and salaries this decade real wages went up 4% while credit card debt jumped more than 75% so what they're doing in order to balance out what's happening on the negative end is applying some pressure to their consumers so credit cards are raising interest rates not taking new customers reducing credit limits and closing dormant accounts is that really fair for those of us who've you know maintained really good credit all our lives Diana con Kade convinced Sear's MasterCard to restore her credit limit should we have to I guess pay for what's going on right now in the economy there or not it's a bill millions of Americans are having to pay Randall Pinkston CBS News New York