Credit Card Use Rose in 1989: Americans...

Credit Card Use Rose in 1989: Americans piled up an additional 20% in debt on four major credit cards in 1989, despite high interest rates and a slowing economy, according to Faulkner & Gray of New York, which publishes a directory on credit card use. Consumers owed $147.1 billion on their Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express Optima cards at the end of 1989. That was up from $122.6 billion at year-end 1988. The four credit card companies’ charge activity was up 15% to $269.9 billion from 1988.