Macro conditions are beginning to affect day-to-day consumer spending. For years, American consumers took on growing debt loads disproportionate to their incomes and savings. Innovest’s October 2008 report, Credit Cards at a Tipping Point, describes the mortgage market collapse as only one symptom of a larger problem and that credit cards will be next. Falling house prices, higher cost of living and unemployment rates are now exacerbating the financial health of the consumer and will result in a spike in charge-offs in 2009, as well as mounting risk for banks … Continue Reading