Consumers have applied for more credit cards and some big banks have eased the standards for credit card loans over the last three months. These were the major credit card findings of the monthly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices released by the Federal Reserve yesterday.
During the past three months, 17 percent of all banks reported a moderately stronger demand for credit card loans. In fact, over a quarter (26.1 percent) of large banks found greater consumer demand for credit cards. Only 8.3 percent of small banks found this to be true.
During the last ninety days, 11.1 percent of banks eased the credit standards for applying for a credit card. This change primarily took place in large banks where 19.2 percent eased the standards somewhat. The credit standard remained the same at 96.4 percent of small banks.
Along those same lines, 16.7 percent of larger banks eased their credit limits on credit cards.
This survey was based on responses from 68 domestic banks and 23 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.
