MONTHLY INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

What we're seeing and hearing in the consumer lending marketplace.

BY JIM STEWART

February 10, 2024
  • BNPL’s death rattle!
  • 2024 Predictions – two BNPL issuers will blow up
  • Advertising in 2023 – loans down, deposits up!
January 13, 2024
  • Epic Predictions!!!
  • Shake up in 2023 personal loan market!
  • Cobrand card offers becoming less prevalent
October 7, 2023
  • Student loan payment consumer spending impact
  • What in the BNP-L???
  • Education refinance marketing set for rebound?
March 4, 2023
  • Card issuers compete on promotional offers
  • Consumers are savvy about balance transfers!
  • Personal loan acquisition moves up the credit spectrum
September 10, 2022
  • Education refinance loan marketing set to rebound?
  • Consumers react to student loan forgiveness
  • Cash back and near prime products dominate credit card mail
July 9, 2022
  • Consumers prefer to have most banking products with one bank
  • Mega mailers leave growth opportunity for regional banks
  • Consumer financial marketing maintains upward trend
November 6, 2021
  • BNPL-ooza
  • BNPL growth continues
  • Bank-branded cards dominate the mail
October 2, 2021
  • Card balance growth finally turning the corner
  • College students are savvy loan shoppers
  • New bank overdraft products gaining traction
  • Consumer lending mail volume still sluggish
August 7, 2021
  • Personal loan applicants like branches
  • Credit card competition surges
  • Ad spending for some products still recovering
  • Is there a hotter new product than BNPL?
June 5, 2021
  • Younger consumers like “pre-qual”
  • HELOC lenders still scarred from 2009
  • Credit card mail volume soars, other products lag
  • Overall financial services ad spending still recovering
  • Consumer loan credit criteria loosens
April 3, 2021
  • One year later…
  • What’s going on with credit card growth?
  • Online savings rates showing no love
August 1, 2020
  • Consumers rarely switch checking accounts – branches matter
  • Is small business lending headed for a repeat of ’08/’09?
  • Early post-forbearance delinquency holding up, balances drop
July 25, 2020
  • Credit card mail volume continues to drop
  • Personal loan mail volume is also low
  • Student and education refi volumes are a bright spot
  • Lower marketing expense will impact future growth
July 18, 2020
  • Consumer lending executives are cautiously optimistic
  • Student lending activity still lags
  • Further signs of life in credit cards…
July 11, 2020
  • Marketing spend is down across all channels and categories
  • Travel reward card issuers respond to a challenged value proposition
  • Delinquency finally starts ticking up…
June 27, 2020
  • Credit card mail volume at lowest level in decades?
  • Personal loan volume plunged as well
  • $2 trillion growth in deposits since coronavirus hit

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June 13, 2020
  • Personal loan rates are in flux
  • Student lending is approaching peak season with a big question
  • Consumer delinquencies continue at lower than expected rates
June 6, 2020
  • Banks are backing off from new deposits while consumers are still interested
  • Mirroring the broad decline in new loan acquisitions, HELOC mail volume was down substantially in April…
May 16, 2020
  • 64% of consumers are using digital banking services more than pre-pandemic
  • Two thirds of colleges are currently planning to welcome students to campus in the Fall, but there remains uncertainty…
May 9, 2020
  • Consumers have shifted credit card rewards preferences away from travel rewards and towards cash back on non-travel categories such as groceries
  • Lending executives are generally finding the “work from home” model to be more effective than previously thought…
May 2, 2020
  • Lending Executives are cautious, but optimistic
  • Demand for lending products has rebounded slightly, but is still below prior trends
  • Alternative lenders continue their retreat from new loan acquisitions…
April 25, 2020
  • Loan asset quality is deteriorating rapidly,
  • Consumers are contacting lenders for help with payments,
  • Capital markets based fintechs continue to suffer…
April 4, 2020
  • Early anecdotal feedback has some direct mail response rates off 10% – 50% beginning in mid-March.
  • Digital search volume has returned to prior levels for some products, stabilized at higher rates for others.
  • Student lending is approaching “peak season” with questions about campuses opening in the fall semester.

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