Comments on: Consumers’ Personal Debt Ceilings on the Rise

By: Eri

Eri — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 04:42:13 +0000

I’m signed up so they’ve got my e-mail. I also support the station that broadcasts them here, KCUR (University of Missouri).

By: TB

TB — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:54:14 +0000

Thanks! I’ve had poor luck in the past trying to pry info out of any media people, but you deserve a lot of credit for trying to follow this up. Get back to us if you hear anything.

By: Eri

Eri — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:51:13 +0000

OK, I just sent this to NPR:

I linked this article at a site where we discuss politics and economics. and a well-informed person there stated that nowhere can he find anything to back up what this reporter is saying about the wealth of credit users. His opinion is that NPR is editorializing rather than reporting. He looked over the last several FICO surveys. There is one sentence in the FICO that says, “The balance increases are likely to be driven by higher spending among some consumers and smaller monthly payments from others.” But that’s it and there is certainly nothing there from which to extrapolate the wealth division.

I have always relied on NPR for accurate, fair reporting. Can you provide the source for the statement: “The FICO surveyors found that credit card debt is rising for two reasons. First, wealthier people are feeling more confident so they are spending more freely, which adds to their credit card balances.

And second, poorer people are feeling more squeezed so they can’t afford to pay off their balances in full.” You may extrapolate these items but to say that the FICO surveyors found this is worrisome since it’s not in their survey report.

By: Eri

Eri — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:34:36 +0000

In that case, I’ll try to remember to contact NPR and query their source. They need to be able to back up what they say because they did not show that as being editorial opinion and are, therefore, supposed to be reporting, not editorializing. They may analyze but they’ve got to have the facts behind it.

By: TB

TB — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:05:15 +0000

Eri, I did look at their source. I linked to it. It wasn't there. I ran global text searches on the entire FICO site for words like "wealthy." An all-points Google search on the phrasing turns up only the NPR article, and quotes from it. What would a "fair" try have been? There is one sentence in the press release that addresses the increase in credit usage:

"The balance increases are likely to be driven by higher spending among some consumers and smaller monthly payments from others."

That's it. The whole thing. Everything else you read in that article seems to be the NPR reporter shoehorning her own class warfare meme into it.

By: Eri

Eri — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 03:34:13 +0000

I see. They’re editorializing just because you don’t agree with their conclusions. Had you agreed with their conclusions, you would have conveniently found data to back up their position. So go at it like you agree and FIND the data to back them up. AFTER you’ve made a FAIR and I do mean FAIR try at it, if there is still no data, I might listen to you. Think outside that box you’ve got yourself in.

By: TB

TB — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 20:18:13 +0000

Interesting. I went through the last few FICO surveys, and found nothing pertaining to the wealth of credit users. You're welcome to go over the surveys yourself, but I suspect NPR did a bit of editorializing here.