Most Popular
1. Banking Crisis is Stocks Bull Market Buying Opportunity - Nadeem_Walayat
2.The Crypto Signal for the Precious Metals Market - P_Radomski_CFA
3. One Possible Outcome to a New World Order - Raymond_Matison
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
5. Apple AAPL Stock Trend and Earnings Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
6.AI, Stocks, and Gold Stocks – Connected After All - P_Radomski_CFA
7.Stock Market CHEAT SHEET - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.US Debt Ceiling Crisis Smoke and Mirrors Circus - Nadeem_Walayat
9.Silver Price May Explode - Avi_Gilburt
10.More US Banks Could Collapse -- A Lot More- EWI
Last 7 days
Stock Market Seasonal Buying Opportunities - 4th Dec 23
Transition From Debt Default And Dollar Demise To A Digital Bridge Currency Recovery - 4th Dec 23
The Future of Trading Has Arrived: Say Hello to Tradu - 4th Dec 23
Adapting to the Fast-Paced World of Online Poker - 4th Dec 23
Israeli Prime Minister Confesses to Being a Palestinian - 4th Dec 23
The Bond Trade - 1st Dec 23
Gold Shines as the Economic Outlook Darkens - 1st Dec 23
Stock Market Santa Rally to S&P 4600+ - 28th Nov 23
Stocks and Silver Have Something to Say about Gold - 28th Nov 23
Can A Stock Market Crash Be Averted... For Now? - 28th Nov 23
Taiwan 2024 Election: Militarization or Development - 28th Nov 23
The Stock Market Trend and the Policy Behind it - 28th Nov 23
Cameco Uranium Stock Hits All-Time High - 28th Nov 23
TSLA, LRCX, TSMC Stock Earnings and Trend Analysis - 26th Nov 23
A Golden Setup: Gold Price Trend Forecast Report - 26th Nov 23
Gold Stocks Winter Seasonal Rally - 26th Nov 23
Elections in South America and Europe Reveal Backlash against Socialism - 26th Nov 23
LMT, JNJ and ASML Stock Earnings and Trend Analysis - 23rd Nov 23
When AI Hallucinates - Top AI Tech Stocks - 23rd Nov 23
Stock Market Ignoring Hawkish Fed - 23rd Nov 23
Stock Market Trend Trajectory into Year End 2023 - 22nd Nov 23
Copper/Gold Ratio: Still Counter-Cyclical - 22nd Nov 23
Learn to Use the FORCE! - How to Really Get Rich - 21st Nov 23
Quad Witching Cracks Stock Market Nuts - 18th Nov 23
Biden Bizarrely Brags About Lower Budget Deficits as US Federal Debt Skyrockets - 18th Nov 23
Silver Price Between a Rock and a Hard Place - 18th Nov 23
The Most Important Chat GPT Tech Reveal of 2023 - 18th Nov 23
AI Tech Stocks Portfolio - 9th Nov 23
Micron MU Stock Trend Analysis - 9th Nov 23
TSMC Stock Trend Analysis - 9th Nov 23
NVIDIA Stock Trend Analysis - 9th Nov 23
The “new ChatGPT” just launched - 9th Nov 23

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

Egg Card Cracked by Credit Crunch as Customers Scramble for Cover

Companies / Credit Crunch Feb 04, 2008 - 07:01 AM GMT

By: Nadeem_Walayat

Companies Egg bank took drastic action to limit its risk of exposure to potential bad debt defaults amongst its credit card holders by banning 160,000 of its customers from being able to use their credit cards for new transactions leaving cards open only for repayment of outstanding balances. Angry customers responded with tens of thousands of internet posts stating messages that they tended to clear their balances on time. The 160,000 banned amounts to 7% of the Egg credit card customer base.


Eggs action can be interpreted as due to three factors -

1.Limiting risk in advance of sharp slowdown of the UK economy which will hit the unsecured debt market hard.

2. The tight money market credit conditions which have made financing of customer credit lines increasingly difficult as sources of cheap credit such as the yen carry trade unravel, and commercial banks become reluctant to increase risks by lending to other banks.

3. The Egg Bank facing financial pressure is no longer willing to carry customers that clear their balance in full each month and therefore do not generate any interest payment earnings for the bank.

Therefore Egg are seeking to reduce their customer base both in terms of retaining those customers that are most profitable and those that are least likely to default so as to maximize earnings. This could also be as a prelude to a cost cutting exercise so as the bank can reduce its staffing and running costs.

The Credit crunch crisis was sparked by the collapse of the US sub prime mortgage market, the consequences of which impacted upon the inter bank lending market which started to freeze way back in July 07. At the time I wrote the article Hedge Fund Sub prime Credit Crunch to Impact Interest Rates , which mapped out the likely outcome of an unraveling of the credit bubble due to the unwinding of the yen carry trade and the fractional reserve banking working in reverse which resulted in the banks unprepared to lend to one another in the face of increased risks of default. On top of this we had the impact on the near collapse of the collatorised debt market and now the monoline insurers that guarantee some $600 billion of bonds coming under pressure as their stock prices collapse by as much as 90%.

I specifically warned of the credit crunch spreading to credit card providers on 11th of November 2007, Credit Cards - The Next Credit Crunch?, as at the time credit card companies tightened lending requirements to new customers that resulted in 55% of applications being rejected.

Therefore the Egg announcement is just the latest instance of the unwinding of the credit bubble that has built up over the last 17+ years.

By Nadeem Walayat

Copyright © 2005-08 Marketoracle.co.uk (Market Oracle Ltd). All rights reserved.

Nadeem Walayat has over 20 years experience of trading, analysing and forecasting the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem is the Editor of The Market Oracle, a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. We present in-depth analysis from over 120 experienced analysts on a range of views of the probable direction of the financial markets. Thus enabling our readers to arrive at an informed opinion on future market direction. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any trading losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors before engaging in any trading activities.

Nadeem Walayat Archive

© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in