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A Credit Card Chief Says Consumers Are Back Out and Shopping

Vacations aren’t happening, according to Synchrony Financial CEO Margaret Keane, but everyone wants to fix up their homes.

Keane began her finance career with a part-time job in college as a bill collector for Citibank, and went on to lead the bank’s U.S. retail operations. She also headed GE Capital’s U.S. credit card business. That unit was later spun off as Synchrony. — Keane began her finance career with a part-time job in college as a bill collector for Citibank, and went on to lead the bank’s U.S. retail operations. She also headed GE Capital’s U.S. credit card business. That unit was later spun off as Synchrony.
Source: Synchrony Financial

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By Carol A Massar and Jason Kelly

June 5, 2020 at 9:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the June 8, 2020 issue of businessweek.

Despite the pandemic, many consumers are staying on top of their bills, says the CEO of Synchrony Financial, the lender behind many store-brand credit cards. And quite a few are going shopping.

About 75% of the customers who initially put themselves into a deferred payment status have come out of that and are paying. Is it the stimulus? Is it the fact that people aren’t spending money elsewhere? Probably all these things are helping. Another is that people aren’t driving, and gas prices are down even if they are. So there are extra dollars there.