Generally, figures show that plastic encourages consumers to spend more, especially credit cards.
The company, based in Short Hills, N.J., focuses in aggregating data about businesses, especially credit risks.
"The central problem in the U.S. is the breakdown of the credit channel, especially credit for small firms and for working capital," he said.
First of all, said James H. Christie, a financial planner with Runnymede Capital Management in Mendham, N.J., never go into debt for a vacation, especially credit card debt.
A continued contraction may make it even tougher for consumers to pay off loans, especially credit card and auto debt, creating another layer of risk.
Over the past 15 years especially, credit card issuers have become among the most sophisticated businesses on earth, with proprietary research that tells them almost everything about their customer base.
It would help if lenders, especially credit card issuers, had more and better information about their debtors.
Credit card companies care about the level of refinancings because consumers often use the proceeds for debt consolidation, especially credit card debt.
One area where there's likely to be some progress this year: closing loopholes and tightening oversight of the derivatives markets at the heart of the financial crisis last fall, especially credit default swaps that are traded over the counter.
Answer: derivatives, especially credit swap derivatives.
