Five Credit Card Events for the New Year

Americans don’t always have the best track record with credit cards. ID theft is on the rise and sometimes we just don’t take the best care of our credit score, but in the years following the recession there was actually higher customer satisfaction with the credit card industry.

So what will the new year bring? Cardhub.com has come up with a number of educated guesses about the state of credit in 2013. Here are five.

Prepaid card boom

From 2006 to 2009 prepaid cards were the fastest growing form of electronic payment. The number of prepaid cards in circulation in 2012 was double the number in 2009. The Mercator Advisory Group projects that consumers will load $117 billion onto prepaid cards in 2013.

Increased popularity of secured credit cards

Unsecured credit cards for people with bad credit have mostly disappeared. Secured credit cards require a security deposit that represents the cardholder’s credit line. Ultimately, they are a good alternative for all parties: the issuers are protected against losses and consumers with bad credit could get a credit card without the high fees.

Overall credit availability increases

Since the recession credit availability has really bounced back from its withered state during the economic downturn. Credit card debt in 2012 is more than 400% more than it was in 2010, which means credit card issuers were being very liberal with underwriting. The trend is expected to continue, and build momentum even, in 2013.

Mobile wallet technology

People love new technology, especially when it simplifies their lives. However, the prediction is that mobile wallet technology, which has been talked about for years now with few gains, won’t catch on in 2013 either.

Consumers shouldn’t sweat the fiscal cliff

Even if a deal isn’t struck, it seems pretty likely that Washington will at least agree on a delay until both sides are happy with the final deal. In that case, the fiscal cliff probably won’t have much of an effect on consumers.

In a poll from November, PMD’s readers were very pessimistic, voting 63% to 37% that Congress won’t avert the fiscal cliff by the end of the year.

To read Cardhub.com’s full list, click here.