After being a major part of a global network of companies that cracked down on conservative speech in the name of so-called misinformation, credit card giant Mastercard is committing that it will not make marketing or branding decisions based on third-parties, according to emails obtained by The Daily Wire. 
 The announcement comes after a group of investors represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom were prepping a resolution targeting the credit card company over its involvement with the Global Alliance for Responsible Media or GARM. Mastercard will release a new company policy in the coming months making clear that third-party views will not influence branding or marketing decisions, the company told the Alliance Defending Freedom this week.
GARM, which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/leftist-censorship-cartel-garm-disbands-following-musk-lawsuit-ben-shapiro-testimony" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disbanded</a> in August 2024, a month after its leaders were<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-here-ben-shapiro-testifies-to-congress-on-censorship-updated-live"> called in to testify to Congress</a>, was an organization founded by the World Federation of Advertisers to ensure that companies only advertised with media outlets deemed “responsible.” In the name of this goal, GARM targeted podcasters like Joe Rogan, platforms like Elon Musk’s X, and conservative outlets like The Daily Wire, according to a congressional <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2024-07-10%20GARMs%20Harm%20-%20How%20the%20Worlds%20Biggest%20Brands%20Seek%20to%20Control%20Online%20Speech.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigation</a>. The Daily Wire&#8217;s Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro testified that the aim of the advertising coalition was to &#8220;throttle viewpoints&#8221; that Democrat legislators and the Biden administration did not like.
After meetings with Alliance Defending Freedom lawyers, Mastercard, which was on the board of the World Federation of Advertisers that oversaw GARM, now says that it alone will determine its marketing and branding strategy. 
“We advance our marketing priorities with a close eye on the value delivered to our brand, the interest and relevance to the intended audience, and whether the media channel/platform supports our ability to deliver new and unique experiences to the end consumer,” a copy of the policy viewed by The Daily Wire says. “Mastercard alone makes decisions on our brand and our marketing activities, independent of any third-party views.”
That came after Inspire Investing, a Christian investment company represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, met with Mastercard to discuss a proposed shareholder resolution to call for an investigation over Mastercard’s involvement with GARM. 
A draft of the resolution viewed by The Daily Wire called for Mastercard to evaluate “how it oversees risks related to discrimination against ad buyers and sellers based on their political or religious status or views.”
After Mastercard agreed to distance itself from third-party organizations, Inspire Investing and Alliance Defending Freedom agreed to withdraw the resolution. 
“This is a meaningful step forward for Mastercard,” Inspire Investing Director of Corporate Engagement Tim Schwarzenberger told The Daily Wire. “We appreciate Mastercard’s willingness to engage with shareholders and make this important commitment to making decisions independent of third-party influences. It’s a positive step for free speech, religious freedom, and ultimately for all Mastercard stakeholders.”
After publication of this story, a Mastercard spokesman told The Daily Wire that the policy &#8220;reinforced our long-standing practices related to decision making on our marketing activities&#8221; in &#8220;conversations related to this proposal.&#8221;
The spokesman also attempted to distance the credit card company from GARM, saying, &#8220;While two members of our marketing team had participated in separate working groups, they were not aware of specific GARM plans or coordinated activities.&#8221;
Mastercard&#8217;s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Raja Rajamannar, who served as president of the World Federation of Advertisers while GARM was in operation, and regularly touted the work of GARM as a positive step for the advertising industry. In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPJ8OmWwhN8&amp;t=90s">video posted to a Mastercard YouTube channel</a>, Rajamannar urged &#8220;every CMO&#8221; to join GARM.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Call for Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oPJ8OmWwhN8?start=90&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Jeremy Tedesco, the senior vice President of corporate engagement at Alliance Defending Freedom, said the new policy from Mastercard represented a major win for conservative customers.
“MasterCard, their business purpose is to make sure that people can transact funds. And that&#8217;s it. And that’s what they should be doing,” he told The Daily Wire. “They shouldn’t be taking their ad buying power and trying to shut down people they disagree with in the marketplace of ideas.”
He also said that it was a necessary step to hold companies accountable that supported the censorship of conservatives. 
“They used their ad buying power in collaboration with other major corporations to suppress conservative and religious content online,” he told The Daily Wire. “It’s really critical that these companies are held accountable for collaborating in that way, in collaborating with people who want to stop so-called misinformation and hate speech from appearing on the internet.”
He said that Alliance Defending Freedom has filed over 70 shareholder resolutions, had over 50 meetings with corporate leaders, and obtained 13 policy behavior changes this corporate season.
This piece has been updated to include comment from Mastercard and additional context.

Mastercard Credit Card

Mastercard, Facing Pressure Over Role In Global Censorship Effort, Agrees To Major Change

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Censorship

credit card

GARM

Mastercard

Conservative credit card company <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/by-conservatives-for-conservatives-new-credit-card-offers-alternative-to-americans-fed-up-with-woke-businesses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coign</a> donated nearly $40,000 dollars to a Christian non-profit that has served over 350,000 meals to storm victims and first responders in North Carolina following Hurricane Helene. 
Coign recently presented <a href="https://mercychefs.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mercy Chefs</a> a check for $39,535 at its Nashville community kitchen as part of the organization’s quarterly donations to conservative charities. Coign CEO Rob Collins told The Daily Wire that Mercy Chefs was chosen because of the work they have done in North Carolina. 
“We’re proud to partner with them, they’re doing great work,” he said, adding that the charity was continuing to provide meals to areas of Western North Carolina still reeling from the devastating flooding. 
Founded in 2006, Mercy Chefs provides meals to victims of natural disasters and the first responders and others volunteering in areas slammed by tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, or fires.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Coign Charity Check Presentation: Mercy Chefs" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_Sc-A_VC1CA?start=4&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Coign, which operates a VISA-backed credit card, donates portions of its transaction fees to conservative organizations chosen each quarter by cardholders. The company has donated to a variety of causes in the past, including groups looking to reduce suicide among soldiers and the Alliance Defending Freedom. 
Jim Kirk, the executive director of development at Mercy Chefs, told The Daily Wire that the donations from Coign were helping its work across the country from California to North Carolina to Kentucky. 
“It&#8217;s been a busy year, and Coign’s customers have been an incredible blessing to people who have lost everything, only to receive hope and love in a hot, chef-prepared meal,” he said. “You&#8217;ve also fed first responders, teachers, volunteers, parents, and children.. people of all walks who needed a nutritious meal.”
“May you experience JOY in your giving, and for making such an amazing impact!” he added. 
Coign’s charitable contributions have dramatically increased since it was first founded back in 2022. Collins said that the total money given in the first quarter was around $5,000, while the most recent quarter was around $190,000.
He said there was a large demand for the card because of the misalignment between conservative customers and major corporations and that Coign was an effective product for &#8220;cultural change.&#8221; 
“It really does provide conservatives a strong alternative to get off the treadmills supporting corporate liberals who hate our way of life, hate our culture, hate our values, but still be able to buy stuff you need,&#8221; he said. 
Last year, Coign <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/credit-card-company-donates-to-crisis-pregnancy-center-targeted-by-vandals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">donated</a> over $15,000 to the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center, a pro-life crisis pregnancy center in the heart of radically pro-abortion Washington, D.C.

Storm Helene Causes Massive Flooding Across Swath Of Western North Carolina

Conservative Credit Card Company Backs North Carolina Hurricane Relief Efforts

Charity

Hurricane Helene

Nashville

North Carolina

Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee signed a bill into law earlier this week that prohibits financial institutions, such as banks and credit card companies, from specifically tracking gun and ammunition purchases.
<a href="https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB2762" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House Bill 2762</a>, also called the &#8220;Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act,&#8221; prohibits financial institutions from requiring gun retailers to use a specific merchant code &#8220;that distinguishes a firearms retailer from a general merchandise retailer or a sporting goods retailer.&#8221; All retailers are assigned merchant codes based on what they sell, allowing banks and credit card companies to track purchasing patterns and protect against fraud. Gun retailers&#8217; merchant codes are usually included with those of other shops, like sporting goods stores.
State Rep. Rusty Grills, a Republican, introduced the legislation earlier this year after credit card companies Visa and Mastercard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/visa-to-categorize-sales-at-gun-stores-in-win-for-gun-control-advocates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> plans to separately categorize firearm and ammunition purchases in 2022.
The &#8220;Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act&#8221; also prohibits financial institutions from declining credit card transactions &#8220;based solely on the assignment or non-assignment of a firearms merchant category code&#8221; and outlaws government entities from keeping a registry of privately owned firearms or gun owners in the state.
Rep. Grills told The Daily Wire in a phone conversation on Thursday that he introduced the legislation to &#8220;protect the Second Amendment rights of all those in Tennessee&#8221; by preventing financial institutions from creating &#8220;a database&#8221; of gun buyers, a possibility Grills said is troubling because many corporations are being led by &#8220;capitalist woke folks.&#8221; Grills added that this new law will preempt any potential future efforts by institutions to interfere with Tenesseeans&#8217; Second Amendment rights.
&#8220;We would rather be able to protect our rights from the beginning rather than have to fight for our rights back at the end,&#8221; Grills said.
The bill passed the state House and Senate earlier this month before it was signed into law by Gov. Lee on Tuesday.
In 2022, the International Organization for Standardization (IOS) — which develops proprietary, industrial, and commercial standards — <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/exclusive-global-standards-body-approves-new-merchant-code-gun-sellers-2022-09-09/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved</a> a new merchant code specifically for gun retailers.
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Shortly after the IOS approved the change, credit card companies took the step of categorizing gun purchases separately from all other purchases. At the time, congressional Democrats were also <a href="https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1567214955690135552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1567214955690135552%7Ctwgr%5Ef5ec583f964c1dc4fbe19556fa5ca458046587c1%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.dailywire.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D728687action%3Dedit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urging</a> Visa, Mastercard, and American Express to &#8220;do more to help stop mass shootings.&#8221;
Those three credit card companies, however, paused plans to track gun purchases a few months later after Republican lawmakers and attorneys general <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/23-republican-ags-warn-credit-card-companies-to-abandon-plan-to-identify-gun-sales" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> the payment processors of the constitutional ramifications of their proposal. But in February of this year, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express moved forward with a plan to potentially track gun purchases in California, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-express-visa-mastercard-gun-merchant-code/">reported</a>.
While multiple Republican-led state legislatures have passed bans on the specific merchant code for gun retailers, California passed a law requiring gun retailers to adopt the merchant code by May 2025.

Gun Store

Tennessee Governor Signs Bill Preventing Financial Institutions From Conducting Unauthorized Surveillance Of Gun Buyers

Banks

Bill Lee

General

Guns

Politics

Second Amendment

Tennessee

Americans are sinking deeper into financial struggles with a whopping $1.1 trillion in credit card debt, and a record number also cannot afford their rent.
Credit card debt jumped by $50 billion in just the last quarter of the year, 4.6% more than the previous quarter, according to data released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Credit card debt first hit a trillion dollars in August.
Missed credit card payments are also rising among all age groups, especially people in their 30s, the data shows.
&#8220;In the case of credit cards, it looks like things have reverted to a level that is worse than pre-pandemic,&#8221; New York Federal Reserve researchers <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/americans-credit-card-debt-hits-record-113-trillion/story?id=106990807" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> reporters on a call Tuesday.
Inflation and spiking rents are driving credit card debt.
The total household debt also jumped $212 billion up to $17.5 trillion in the last quarter of the year.
Another factor of debt is rising car prices — used cars and new cars are much more expensive than before the pandemic.
Car loans rose by $12 billion in the last quarter of the year, hitting $1.61 trillion. Delinquencies on those loans also increased.
Meanwhile, more Americans than ever are spending a significant portion of their income on rent.
A record 22.4 million renters, about half the country&#8217;s renters, were spending more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities in 2022, according to a <a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_Americas_Rental_Housing_2024.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> released earlier this month by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
The rental market is now cooling, but rent prices are still much higher than pre-pandemic, and wage growth has not kept up.
Median weekly wages grew only 1.7% between 2019 and 2023, government figures <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/the-purchasing-power-of-american-households#ftn3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">show</a>.
People earning between $45,000 and just under $75,000 a year saw the most significant increase in newly “cost-burdened” renters, according to the report.
“So you can certainly imagine the kinds of tradeoffs that have to happen,” Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a senior research associate at the Harvard center, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/record-number-americans-afford-rent-lawmakers-scrambling-107013779#:~:text=The%20latest%20data%20from%20the,income%20on%20rent%20in%202022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> ABC News.
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“Cost-burden renters are spending less on things like food and health care and retirement. So, there are significant implications for the long-term well-being of these households,” Airgood-Obrycki said.
At the same time, homelessness is also on the rise.
About 653,000 people reported being homeless in January of last year, the Harvard report found.
That’s up about 12% from the same time the previous year in 2022, the largest single-year increase ever recorded, the report says. About 71,000 more people were homeless last year than the year before.
Even more striking, last year’s number was about 48% higher than the homeless population in 2015.

credit card and money, credit card putted on dollars.

Americans Owe Over $1.1 Trillion In Credit Card Debt, Record Number Can’t Afford Rent

Americans Owe Over $1.1 Trillion In Credit Card Debt, Record Number Can't Afford Rent

Banking

Business

Economy

Homeless

Homelessness

Housing

The Department of Justice (DOJ) put financial institutions on notice for rejecting <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/illegal-immigration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">illegal immigrants</a>’ credit applications.
The DOJ <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-and-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-issue-joint-statement-cautioning" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> the warning in a joint statement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Thursday. The DOJ and CFPB said in a press release that illegal immigrants had filed complaints about credit application rejections.
“The Justice Department and CFPB are issuing this statement because consumers have reported being rejected for credit cards as well as for auto, student, personal and equipment loans because of their immigration status, even when they have strong credit histories and ties to the United States and are otherwise qualified to receive the loans,” stated the agencies.
The two agencies <a href="https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-10/joint_statement_on_fair_lending_and_credit_opportunities_for_noncitizen_borrowers_final_.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) protections for national origin and race extended to alienage, though they admitted that no such explicit provisions spelled out their interpretation. The agencies conceded that creditors could rely on immigration status to determine repayment ability, but then cautioned against “unnecessary or overbroad reliance” on immigration status.
“[W]hile ECOA and Regulation B do not expressly prohibit consideration of immigration status, they do prohibit creditors from using immigration status to discriminate on the basis of national origin, race, or any other protected characteristic,” said the agencies. “Immigration status may broadly overlap with or, in certain circumstances, serve as a proxy for these protected characteristics.”
Regulation B, which provides additional rules for evaluating credit applications, lists immigration status as a valid reason for denying an applicant to assure “creditor’s rights and remedies regarding repayment.” The agencies further asserted that since no explicit permissions existed, creditors couldn’t discriminate on the basis of citizenship status unless they could prove significant repayment concerns.
The agencies further warned against “overbroad consideration” of certain procedures, such as questioning the length of time an individual has possessed a Social Security number or requiring certain types of documentation, ID, or in-person application materials. The agencies warned that these screening tactics could be interpreted as unlawful discrimination on the basis of national origin or race.
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In closing, the agencies interpreted the 1866 Civil Rights Act, dubbed <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title42/chapter21&amp;edition=prelim" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Section 1981</a>, to declare that illegal immigrants have the same rights and protections as citizens.
“[C]reditors should be mindful of their obligations under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (Section 1981) [which] has long been construed to prohibit discrimination based on alienage,” said the agencies. “[C]ourts have observed that ECOA’s prohibition of national origin discrimination and Section 1981’s prohibitions complement one another and that discrimination that arises from overbroad restrictions on lending to noncitizens may violate either or both statutes.”
The Supreme Court has not weighed in on whether Section 1981 extends to alienage, but the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals <a href="https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/212211.P.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">did</a> as recently as July.
Under the ECOA, the DOJ may <a href="https://www.justice.gov/crt/equal-credit-opportunity-act-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sue</a> those alleged to have engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination concerning race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in addition to national origin.
According to the DOJ’s latest annual fair lending <a href="https://www.justice.gov/media/1259491/dl?inline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from 2021, there were five referrals involving claims of race or national origin discrimination. The 2022 report has yet to be issued.
CFPB’s latest fair lending <a href="https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_fair-lending-report_2023-06.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a>, from 2022, did mention prioritizing the financial needs of immigrants. CFPB issued four referrals involving discrimination on the basis of race and national origin in mortgage lending to the DOJ last year.

Credit Card

DOJ Warns Financial Institutions That They Can’t Reject Illegal Immigrants’ Credit Applications

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Department of Justice

Illegal Immigration

U.S.

Mastercard has told banks to stop allowing people to buy marijuana with its debit cards, citing that marijuana is still illegal under federal law.
The credit card company said this week that it recently became aware of people using Mastercard debit cards to buy pot and quickly contacted banks to tell them to halt the practice.
“As we were made aware of this matter, we quickly investigated it. In accordance with our policies, we instructed the financial institutions that offer payment services to cannabis merchants and connects them to Mastercard to terminate the activity,” a Mastercard spokesperson <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-26/how-to-buy-pot-not-with-a-mastercard-ma-debit-card-company-says#xj4y7vzkg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Wednesday.
“The federal government considers cannabis sales illegal, so these purchases are not allowed on our systems,” the spokesperson added.
Cannabis is still illegal under federal law even though 38 states have legalized medical marijuana and 23 states have legalized its recreational use. Washington, D.C. has also legalized both uses.
Most banks in the country do not service marijuana companies for the same reason Mastercard cited, the illegality on the federal level. However, some pot buyers and sellers had found a loophole involving making PIN transactions using debit cards.
Marijuana companies were quick to condemn Mastercard&#8217;s decision.
&#8220;This move is another blow to the state-legal cannabis industry and patients/consumers who want to access this budding category,&#8221; <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66320970" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Sunburn Cannabis CEO Brady Cobb in a statement.
&#8220;We will continue to advocate for cannabis reform in Washington through further dialogue with elected officials and stakeholders to advance conversations supporting the growth of safe, legal cannabis across the U.S.,&#8221; <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66320970" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> marijuana firm Verano&#8217;s president Darren Weiss.
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The marijuana industry is already struggling despite increased legalization. New York in particular has seen dismal profits since legalizing the drug for recreational use.
New York City <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-losing-millions-in-taxes-from-legal-marijuana-sales-while-illegal-market-booms-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expected</a> to pull in $56 million in tax revenue in its first year of legal weed, but instead is losing millions from anemic legal marijuana sales while an illegal market thrives. Only 15 dispensaries are currently up and running in the state, but New York City alone has <a href="https://www.lohud.com/story/news/2023/05/31/marijuana-in-ny-crackdown-poised-illegal-weed-shops-what-to-know/70270367007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hundreds</a> of illegal pot dealers that operate under the radar of the state regulators. By June, the state had raised only $16.5 million in retail revenue since opening its first legal dispensary in December, a report backed by medical marijuana operators showed.
In Canada, cannabis was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/17/health/canada-legalizes-recreational-marijuana/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legalized</a> nationally in 2018, so customers are often allowed to make payments with credit or debit cards.
Support for legalizing marijuana has spiked over the last two decades, with most Americans now saying they support legalizing marijuana for both medical and recreational use. About 88% of Americans support legal pot for medical use, and 59% support legal recreational use, according to an October Pew Research Center survey.
Despite the increasing legalization of marijuana, the drug still has its critics.
Scientific research has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/going-green-the-physical-mental-and-emotional-problems-associated-with-marijuana" target="_blank" rel="noopener">linked</a> marijuana to a host of problems, including anxiety, memory problems, lung issues, and even psychosis. Weed has been linked to schizophrenia, especially in people who are genetically predisposed to developing it, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/going-green-the-physical-mental-and-emotional-problems-associated-with-marijuana" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to several studies. One study showed the THC in cannabis <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7442038/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">makes</a> schizophrenia and psychosis symptoms worse and causes more relapses and hospitalizations.

Recreational Use Of Marijuana Becomes Legal In Nevada

Mastercard Blocks Marijuana Purchases On Debit Cards

Drugs

Marijuana

Joe Biden has been out and about talking about the rebound of the U.S. economy and the “wins” so-called Bidenomics is creating for America. Television economic pundits did cartwheels earlier this month as new inflation data showed the June Consumer Price Index had fallen to 3.0%, with core CPI up 4.8%, per the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cpi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bureau</a> of Labor Statistics. While this is good news for Americans, these numbers do not tell the entire story, nor do they reflect the struggle citizens are facing every day.
To begin, one must remember that the CPI measures year-over-year inflation, meaning that the June number of 3.0% was 3.0% higher than the number in June 2022. Forgotten by most of the talking heads on television is that the June 2022 <a href="https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/economicdata/cpi_07132022.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CPI</a> was 9.1% — meaning that prices in June 2023 were, on average, 12.1% higher than they were just two years ago. This means that in 2023, a family with an income of $100,000 had the purchasing power of a family making just under $88,000 two years previously.
There is financial danger lurking as credit card debt increases, high interest rates preclude the purchase of homes and cars, and consumers are having a harder time obtaining credit.
Credit card <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/credit-card-debt-rising-double-edged-sword-economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">debt</a> reached a record high of $993 billion in early July 2023, at a time when the average credit card interest rate topped 24%. The credit card interest rate will almost certainly rise later this month as the Federal Reserve is expected to increase interest rates by 0.25% at it’s meeting in late July.
Some pundits believe that increasing credit card debt is a sign that people believe the economy is strong and that they are comfortable taking on additional debt. I disagree. 60% of credit card holders have been carrying <a href="https://catalyst.independent.org/2022/09/22/government-causing-credit-card-debt/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwn_OlBhDhARIsAG2y6zNQIoZij5TXjNC2ibkKunklxZQlfz7Ky8c9eVV5Q0TY0oPrDVS6euoaAoqaEALw_wcB" target="_blank" rel="noopener">balances</a> on their card for at least a year, up 10% from 2021. 59% of Americans who earn less than $50,000 a year carry a credit card balance from month to month. These people aren’t using credit cards to purchase tickets to Hawaii and new TVs, they are using their cards to pay for groceries and to cover their rent or utility bills and paying 24% interest for the privilege of doing so.
Existing <a href="https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/existing-home-sales/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">home sales</a> were down 3.3% in June, a reduction of nearly 19% compared to June 2022. This should not be a surprise as <a href="https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/30-year-mortgage-rates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mortgage</a> rates are currently at 7.24% for a 30-year fixed mortgage. People simply cannot afford to sell their homes and relocate. This makes sound economic sense. No one owning a home with a 2.5% fixed mortgage rate wants to sell their home and relocate, given the extra cost they would incur to purchase a similarly valued home at 7.24%. This phenomenon is precluding many potential first-time home buyers from making that purchase and, in turn, is driving <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/07/19/us-metros-states-with-rent-increases/70425895007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rental rates</a> upwards. In addition, it is making it harder for businesses to fill key needs as fewer potential employees are willing to relocate for a new job.
Unfortunately, many Americans can no longer pay their bills as both foreclosures and auto repossessions continue to rise. In May, the U.S. Foreclosure Market Report “found 35,196 American properties with <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/foreclosures-rising-experts-means-housing-180030618.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">foreclosure</a> filings … a 7% increase from April, but twice that much from 2022,” according to Go Banking Rates. In March, the last data available, the percentage of <a href="https://www.motor1.com/news/664132/delinquent-car-loans-repos-rising/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">delinquent</a> subprime auto loans increased to 5.3%, and repossessions will top 1.5 million this year.
It&#8217;s getting even harder for people to be approved for loans of all types, ranging from credit cards to auto loans. A recent New York Federal Reserve <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/borrowers-are-getting-rejected-for-loans-at-the-highest-rate-in-5-years/ar-AA1e4Yh2?ocid=msedgntp&amp;cvid=da7e37617c5c4986802b6f1c5817e305&amp;ei=29">survey</a> found that the “overall rejection rate for credit applications increased to 21.8% year-over-year in June,” the highest level since June 2018. This is a bad sign for the economy as it shows major <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/more-americans-rejected-for-loans-just-as-they-may-be-feeling-tapped-out-fed-survey-shows/ar-AA1dZL8Y?ocid=msedgntp&amp;cvid=c590680289aa4e0ae2b3ecf8cd7d0e86&amp;ei=123" target="_blank" rel="noopener">banks</a> are setting aside more money to cover bad consumer loans.
So, while President Biden and economic talking heads gush over the reduced rate of inflation, every day, hard working Americans are struggling under unprecedented levels of debt and the inability to obtain the credit to address it. Americans are hurting, and their hurt is being ignored.
Jim Nelles is a Navy veteran and supply chain consultant based in Chicago. His articles have appeared in the Washington Examiner, Newsweek, Foxnews.com, and The Daily Wire. He has served as a chief procurement officer, chief supply chain officer, and chief operations officer for multiple companies.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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Repos And Foreclosures On The Rise, But Bidenomics Is Working

Automobiles

Economics

Inflation

Joe Biden

Readers Pass

In a harsh indictment of how inflation under President Joe Biden is crippling Americans, credit card debt is soaring as consumers are faced with skyrocketing prices.
Economic figures from August offer compelling evidence of the surge in credit card debt. Revolving credit that month shot up a massive 18.1% while total consumer debt zoomed to a record $4.68 trillion, as data from the Federal Reserve Board <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/current/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a>.
“Americans are burning up their plastic in order to make ends meet in these inflationary times,” <a href="https://schiffgold.com/key-gold-news/americans-continue-to-pay-for-inflation-with-credit-cards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> journalist Michael Maharrey.
More evidence from the August data: revolving credit climbed another $17.1 billion in August. “Total revolving debt now stands at $1.154 trillion — well above the pre-pandemic record,” Maharrey noted.
A <a href="https://www.creditcards.com/statistics/credit-card-debt-poll/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CreditCards.com report</a> stated 60% of credit-card debtors acknowledged suffering from credit card debt for 12 months or longer; last year that figure stood at 50%.
“Total consumer borrowing has averaged a gain of $31.2 billion in the first eight months of the year,” <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/consumers-borrowing-picks-up-speed-in-august-11665170630" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MarketWatch</a> reported last week. “Some experts are alarmed at the pace of growth in consumer credit and think that households are using expensive debt to keep spending with inflation so elevated.”
In mid-September CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inflation-cpi-report-consumer-price-index-august-2022-09-13/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, “Consumer prices have surged 8.3% in the past 12 months.”
Noting the $887 billion in credit card debt Americans owed as of June 2022, Ron Hetrick, senior economist at <a href="https://lightcast.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lightcast</a>, pointed out that number exceeded the same time the year before by 13%, calling it “the largest increase in credit card debt that we&#8217;ve seen in over 20 years.”
Meanwhile, the Fed has been trying to reduce inflation by implementing a series of interest rate increases over the last six months. In September they <a href="https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/credit-cards/fed-vs-inflation-what-it-means-for-your-credit-card-balance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised interest rates</a> by three-fourths of a percentage point, from 3% to 3.25%. A hike in the Fed’s interest rate usually means a hike in the interest rate for credit cards, thus an unpaid balance will cost consumers even more.
A July <a href="https://www.morganstanley.com/content/dam/msdotcom/atwork/state-of-workplace-financial-benefits-study-results-2022/state-of-the-workplace-study.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Morgan Stanley said that one-quarter of Americans were cutting down on paying off their debt because of high inflation. The report also stated that 62% of U.S. employees admitted they reduced contributions to their savings because of rampant inflation while a whopping 71% of U.S. employees said financial stress was negatively affecting their work and personal life, up 7% from the year before.
A previous version of this article incorrectly said Ron Hetrick is a senior economist at Lightcast Americans. He is a senior economist at Lightcast.

Midsection Of Businesswoman Holding Credit Card And Bill While Working At Desk

‘Burning Up Their Plastic’: Bidenflation Fueling Soaring Credit Card Debt, Report Says

 Bidenflation Fueling Soaring Credit Card Debt: Report

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