Credit card spending growth is slowing — it’s 'inevitable,' expert says

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Justin Smith
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There are recent signs of a shift. According to Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at the National Retail Federation, shoppers still buy more than last year but spending growth is slowing as the economy settles down. However, there are recent signs of a shift.

Shoppers are still buying more than last year, but spending growth is slowing as the economy settles down, according to Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist of the National Retail Federation.

“There are ongoing economic challenges and questions, and the pace of consumer spending growth is becoming incrementally slower,” Kleinhenz said in the August issue of NRF’s Monthly Economic Review.

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In the last year, credit card debt spiked to a record high, while the personal savings rate fell. According to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report, American credit card debt reached a record high of $1 trillion in this year. In July, total card spending increased just 0.1% year-over-year after three consecutive months of declines. This was helped in part by Fourth of July sales, Amazon Prime Day and “Barbenheimer”. The average credit card interest rate has already reached a record high of more than 20%. Matt Shay, NRF’s President and CEO, said on Wednesday that spending habits are changing. Shay explained that consumers now focus on value rather than on discretionary purchases. “Things have changed.

“Consumers are still in a very good space and they’re still spending,” he said, but “are they spending in the same ways they were 18 months, 12 months, 24 months ago? They’re not. “

‘A consumer spending slowdown is inevitable’

“A consumer spending slowdown is inevitable,” said Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief credit analyst. There are too many challenges facing consumers. “

Student loan payments, which will resume this fall, will be another “huge test,” he added.

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“I don’t think anyone quite knows what things are going to look like,” Schulz said.

“Card spending could go sky high because people with student loan payments need the cards to help them make ends meet or it could shrink,” Schulz said, if borrowers pull back even more on discretionary purchases such as travel and dining out.

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