The Credit Card Business' New Inefficiencies

With the recent, hurriedly-passed legislation involving credit cards now law, it's reasonable to expect some major changes in the way that the providers of revolving, installment credit will do business.

Of course, the biggest change is going to be the rationing of credit at the high-risk end of the spectrum. Since the legislation limits the degree to which installment credit providers can recoup losses and offset risk with fees and interest rate changes, many lower-income or poor credit-risk consumers will simply be denied this source of credit at any price.

To those who would argue that this 'protects' such low-end consumers, let me remind them that nobody put a gun to anyone's head and forced them to accept and use installment credit. Charge-offs by banks of balances on excessively-risky accounts were the banks fault. But the incurring of the debt, and related fees for delinquency, etc., were the responsibility of adult consumers.

As an aside, this would seem to be an odd governmental policy in the midst of a recession, since consumer spending will, as usual, be a major engine of growth at some point. With less credit, there'll be less spending sooner.

At the other end of the spectrum, lower-risk credit customers now may see the return of annual fees on bank cards, as well as the disappearance of the 'grace' period. In return for harsher regulation of riskier credit consumers, the issuers were given leeway to eliminate that free 30 days in which a card user may carry a balance that is paid off in full by the required statement date.

I discussed this with a colleague recently, comparing thoughts about how this will cause unintended, currently-unforeseen consequences, as legislation like this typically does.

For example, in the last few years, probably like many of my readers, I've agreed to let some vendors apply a monthly charge to my credit card. Services such as a fitness club, TiVo, an online service provider, and Netflix, to name a few, use this business model.

Consequently, I would have an average monthly balance of over $200, which is currently paid in full, since I'd just as gladly write checks for these recurring expenses. In a world with no grace period, and a 20% annual interest rate, these charges will result in roughly $40 of additional financial fees. Add a $50+ annual fee, times two cards, and I might be looking at an additional $150/year of installment credit-related fees, with no change in my own financial behavior.

Multiply my experience by a few million consumers, and there'll be impetus for change.

My colleague thinks that several of these monthly services will quickly move to an annual, check-paid discounted fee option. The larger vendors, such as the fitness club, will probably offer a private-label credit card on which to charge their own service, at no annual fee.

Either way, though, there will be inefficiencies. In the case of the discounted annual fee, the funding is simply being moved back to me, with a small interest rate paid, via discount, for me funding the vendor for an extra eleven months.

In the case of the fitness club and any other vendor large enough to offer a private credit card, there's the added time and expense of writing another monthly check, plus stamps, which are no longer trivial.

Having worked at Chase Manhattan Bank for many years, I've always been leery of allowing direct access to my DDA account by vendors. If there is any problem whatsoever, the bank employees have zero motivation to make sure it is resolved. Any resulting damage to my credit rating will be borne by me, not the bank, nor its employees, and I'll have to spend my time to clear that up.

Thus, the net effect of this new installment credit legislation is likely to be substantially less credit extended, at any price, and a much more inefficient use of, and payment for credit by those still possessing revolving charge cards.

Hardly economic progress, is it?