(New York)

Over the last several years consumer credit markets have experienced a huge boom. As the economy started to pick up pace, consumers abandoned the deleveraging that characterized the Great Recession and started to use more credit. This led to a boom in profitability for credit card companies. However, that era has now come to an end. “The easy money has been made in card lending”, says a consumer finance analyst at Wells Fargo. Battles over ever lower rates for consumers as well as the cost of competing by offering rewards has challenged the landscape.

FINSUM: We definitely think the credit card boom as over as consumers have wisened up and have many more good options.