WSJ: Credit-Card Pinch Leads Consumers To Rein In Spending

[El Pinko]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120243324726552445.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news

Credit-Card Pinch Leads Consumers To Rein In Spending
By Robin Sidel, Sudeep Reddy and Jane J. Kim
Word Count: 1,110 | Companies Featured in This Article: Citigroup, Capital One Financial , American Express, J.P. Morgan Chase, Barclays, McDonald's
America's love affair with credit cards may be headed for the rocks.

Credit-card delinquencies are rising across the nation, a sign that some Americans are at the end of their rope financially. And these mounting delinquencies, in turn, have prompted banks to tighten lending standards, keeping people who have maxed out their cards from finding new sources of credit.

The result could be a sharp pullback in consumer spending that would further weaken the slowing U.S. economy.

Such a pullback may already be taking shape. Yesterday, the Federal Reserve reported an abrupt slowdown in consumers' credit-card borrowings. In December, Americans ...