It's not only "Judy's Turn to Cry"..Am Ex is chokin' back the tears

[SoCalDem]

:rofl:

Amex, Capital One card losses dampen results
http://www.easybourse.com/bourse/actualite/amex-capital-one-card-losses-dampen-results-US0258161092-707101
By Juan Lagorio and Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American Express Co <AXP.N> and Capital One Financial Corp <COF.N> said rising customer delinquencies reduced second-quarter earnings, and shares of the large U.S. credit card issuers fell after hours.Profit fell 84 percent at American Express, while Capital One reported a third straight quarterly loss. Both are writing off close to $1 out of every $10 they lend, even after the government let them repay federal bailout money.

snip

"American Express and Capital One have slowed issuance of new cards as consumers try to reduce card balances, even as reserves for uncollectible debt rise," said John Augustine, chief investment strategist at Fifth Third Private Bank in Cincinnati. "This scenario suggests these companies will remain under stress until charge-offs start to level off."

snip

Defaults on U.S. credit cards rose to a record 10.76 percent in June and could reach 13 percent by the middle of 2010, Moody's Investors Service said on Wednesday. Economists say charge-off rates are closely tied to the nation's unemployment rate, which at 9.5 percent is the highest since 1983 and is widely expected to soon reach double digits.

EARNINGS FALL

American Express said quarterly net income available to common shareholders fell to $102 million, or 9 cents per share, from $650 million, or 56 cents, a year earlier. Before preferred stock dividends, net income was $337 million.

snip..


Chief Executive Richard Fairbank on a conference call said consumers are "behaving defensively," in part by reducing spending. He said charge-offs may keep rising this year, and projected a 10.3 percent year-end unemployment rate, with housing prices bottoming out 42 percent below their 2006 peak.

snip..

(Reporting by Juan Lagorio and Jonathan Stempel; editing by Andre Grenon and Carol Bishopric)

[Uben]

1. I care......

.......NOT !

[Mari333]

2. well i should think so! behaving defensively indeed

my word.
knr

[ejpoeta]

3. well, when you sent out all those pre-approval letters to people who had bad credit

and you knew would probably not be able to keep up with their payments.... what did you think would happen?? i mean, you purposely went after the high risk folks that couldn't get a card from anyone else and charged them high interest so you could get lots of money off of them..... expecting that folks that shouldn't have a credit card would somehow be able to pay YOU even when they couldn't even pay their other bills??? i do not feel sorry for you.... not ONE BIT.

[GeorgeGist]

4. Biting the hand that feeds you ...

leaves you chewing on your own hotair.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

5. I cut up my AMEX card

months ago when they lowered my credit limit for no good reason.


K*R

[tblue37]

6. Well, when credit card companies attack their consumers,

they should not be surprised when the consumers start behaving defensively.

Why am I reminded of Bucky and Satchel in the comic strip Get Fuzzy?