CUNA Mutual Group

Discovery Conference 2008

 

 Indicates workshops that address Generation Y topics.

 

F102 – In Debt We Trust: From Monopoly to Mall Madness in the Credit Card Nation
Speaker: Dr. Robert Manning, Research Professor and Director, Center for Consumer Financial Services, Rochester Institute of Technology

America’s attitudes toward credit and debt have experienced a profound transformation over the last three decades of the deregulation of the U.S. banking industry. As the banks’ best customers have changed from those who pay off their loans as soon as possible to those who are perpetually in debt, America has witnessed an historically unprecedented rise in household debt levels and record low consumer saving rates. This presentation reviews the history of America’s attitudes and behaviors toward saving and debt, the role of bank mass marketing in changing consumer attitudes toward “good” versus “bad” debt, the impact of “easy credit” following the deregulation of retail banking and consolidation of the credit card industry, changing patterns and debt levels of American households, the rapid growth of the “near bankrupt” (employed with soaring debt burdens), sub-prime mortgage debacle, and the future consequences of the “Double Financial Bubble.”

The presentation continues with a discussion of Dr. Manning’s prediction in fall 2005 of a “consumer-led” recession in summer 2008 that includes findings from his national 2007 household study of consumer spending attitudes. Finally, the presentation examines his innovative “Responsible Debt Relief” program that promotes responsible lending and repayment practices as a practical tool for easing the financial pain of the US recession on credit union members. Dr. Manning concludes with a “call to action” for the credit union community to seize the opportunity of this period of economic turmoil to demonstrate that the “other path” of retail banking is essential to the long term health and financial stability of America.