Consumer credit: Banks gain, customer pain

Banks are cutting back on consumer credit at an accelerating pace, says bank analyst Meredith Whitney. Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, which account for three-fifths of all unused credit lines, cut $320 billion in consumer credit lines in the first quarter, after cutting $308 billion in the fourth quarter.

Whitney tells Forbes, "What's worse is that the remaining 40 percent of the unused line market is cutting lines at an even more aggressive pace." She also noted Advanta, which will shutter its credit card business with unused lines of roughly $11.5 billion outstanding and existing lines of close to $5.0 billion. This is a pretty dramatic shrinking of consumer liquidity, but you can't blame the banks. The pain may be even worse for small businesses. 

For more:
- here's the article

Related Articles:
Credit thawing for some companies only
Hedge funds can now borrow form the Fed
Meredith Whitney: Still bearish on banks
The talk of Meredith Whitney's party