The rate of consumers opening new accounts, including installment loans (i.e., auto and student loans) and revolving credit accounts (i.e., bank and retail credit cards), in 2006 has fallen to 41.0 percent from 49.3 percent in 2001. The rate at which consumers were 90 days or more late in payments increased 12.6 percent from 2001 (39.6 percent) to 2006 (44.6 percent).
"The drop in the rate of consumers opening new accounts in 2006 may give the appearance that they are being more conservative with regard to using credit, however this may not be the case when combined with other results from our study," said Ty Taylor, president of Experian Consumer Direct. "Although our data shows a drop in the rate of consumers opening bank credit card accounts, it also shows that their balances on other types of loans, such as installment loans, are increasing."
Experian(R) empowers consumers by offering products and information through Web sites such as www.FreeCreditReport.com to help them proactively manage their personal finances conveniently and securely online. Products include credit reports from all three national credit reporting companies, credit score reports that show the positive and negative factors that affect a consumer's credit score, and credit monitoring products that provide daily monitoring of their Experian credit report or all three national credit reports.
The Experian study compared data from August 2006 and August 2001. More information about the study plus additional credit data at the state and local levels can be found on Experian's National Score Index Web site at www.NationalScoreIndex.com
