Tuesday, February 03, 2004
WALLOWING IN CREDIT CARD DEBT: So says Florence Lowe-Lee of the Korea Economic Institute. Some troubling figures:
Of course the U.S. isn't all that far behind (can you say home equity line of credit?) but whatever the case, this does not bode well for the future of either nation's economy.
Statistics show that credit card use has risen nearly 90% a year since 1998, and the average Korean now owns at least four credit cards.
...
The total amount of credit card transactions jumped from $53 billion in 1998 to $519 billion in 2002. The household savings rate declined sharply from 23% of disposable annual income in 1998 to less than 10% in 2002, while household debt nearly doubled during the same period. At the same time, the number of delinquent cardholders began to rise?1.6 out of every 10 Koreans have bad credit. Total outstanding credit card debt increased from $11.0 billion at the end of 1999 to $57.5 billion at the end of the third quarter 2003.
...
It is estimated that more than 4 million consumers will become delinquent early this year. [that's nearly 10% of the ROK's entire population--ed.]
Of course the U.S. isn't all that far behind (can you say home equity line of credit?) but whatever the case, this does not bode well for the future of either nation's economy.
