Credit card companies to pare lending

Analyst cites rising consumer defaults for pullback of $2t

More than 70 percent of US households have credit cards. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)

NEW YORK - Credit card companies will reduce lending by more than $2 trillion over the next 18 months in a dangerous and unprecedented move for US consumer spending, Oppenheimer & Co.'s Meredith Whitney said.

Lenders that may have difficulty raising capital and want to avoid losses from rising loan defaults are pulling in credit lines, Whitney said in a research note dated Nov. 30.

More than 70 percent of US households have credit cards, she said.

Consumers are already cutting back on spending as job losses and equity market declines sap confidence. US consumer purchases fell 1 percent in October, the most since the 2001 recession, the Commerce Department said last week. The economy lost 300,000 jobs in November, economists estimated before this Friday's jobs report, making for nearly 1.5 million jobs lost this year.

"Pulling credit when job losses are increasing by more than 50 percent year-over-year in most key states is a dangerous and unprecedented combination," Whitney said.

The Fed last week disclosed two new steps to unfreeze credit for home buyers, consumers, and small businesses, committing up to $800 billion.

American Express Co., the largest US credit card company by purchases, said in October it will cut 10 percent of its workforce to reduce costs after four straight quarterly profit declines caused by rising defaults.