According to a report from Mercator Advisory Group, consumer credit card use remains steady, but young adults age 18 to 35 are eschewing credit cards. In its "Consumers and Credit 2012: Come Back, Young Cardholders" report, Mercator said that only 59 percent of young adults in this age group have credit cards. That compares to 70 percent of seniors surveyed.
What's more, the report found younger consumers are three times more likely than seniors to reduce their credit card use in favor of debit cards – 36 percent compared to 12 percent of seniors.
"The anticredit card sentiment appears to be waning," said Karen Augustine, manager of CustomerMonitor Survey Series at Mercator Advisory Group and the author of the report. "But issuers need to address the needs of the young adults in order to stimulate greater credit card volume."
The report is the fourth of eight consumer survey reports based on Mercator's CustomerMonitor Survey Series. Data was obtained during a national sample of 1,003 online consumer survey responses completed between June 8 and June 19, 2012.
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