Jamie Dimon “Access to credit” statements

[cashorcharge]

I have found this interesting and wondered if anyone else has an opinion.

For the last say 6 months or so, Jamie Dimon (CEO of Chase) has been repeatedly saying publicly "Access to credit will get tougher" and "Consumers will have a harder time getting credit as the economy downturns" and other like-minded sentiments.  

YET, we have seen Chase loosen (to some extent) their 5/24 approvals on some cards, given increasing high CL's for their Amazon cobranded cards, change their policy on CLI's and shifted away from HP to SP and offered their highest bonuses yet on their Chase Business Ink cards, their IHG Co-branded card and even stepped up SUB's on their Sapphire cards.  All these practices would seem to make getting credit easier or at least not as restrictive as in the past.  I'm not saying they've loosened their underwriting practices but it seems like their approvals lately have been rather generous when you ready through the litany of Personal and Business Approvals for new accounts and CLI's.

Just today, it was announced that Chase is taking over First Republic Bank and while they catered to a wealthier clientele than say your average account holder, I also curious if those converted accounts now with Chase will stay with Chase.  Seems like those clients "could" have chosen Chase before but decided to go against that "big bank" practice towards a boutique bank.  Even some of First Republic's credit facilities were more generous than Chase...in exchange for depositors keeping more money with First Republic....though it will be interesting to see how this shifts.

[805orbust]

Why stop lending when you have a rich Uncle who literally prints money and will continue to give you more.  Personally I just think that they're getting more sophisticated and "in step" with the market.  The big players are always the slowest to move and lets face it, they've been behind on that particular aspect for some time my friend.  Who knows tho... my advice and $1 won't even get you on a bus anymore 

[iced]

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@cashorcharge wrote:

I have found this interesting and wondered if anyone else has an opinion.

For the last say 6 months or so, Jamie Dimon (CEO of Chase) has been repeatedly saying publicly "Access to credit will get tougher" and "Consumers will have a harder time getting credit as the economy downturns" and other like-minded sentiments.  

YET, we have seen Chase loosen (to some extent) their 5/24 approvals on some cards, given increasing high CL's for their Amazon cobranded cards, change their policy on CLI's and shifted away from HP to SP and offered their highest bonuses yet on their Chase Business Ink cards, their IHG Co-branded card and even stepped up SUB's on their Sapphire cards.  All these practices would seem to make getting credit easier or at least not as restrictive as in the past.  I'm not saying they've loosened their underwriting practices but it seems like their approvals lately have been rather generous when you ready through the litany of Personal and Business Approvals for new accounts and CLI's.

Just today, it was announced that Chase is taking over First Republic Bank and while they catered to a wealthier clientele than say your average account holder, I also curious if those converted accounts now with Chase will stay with Chase.  Seems like those clients "could" have chosen Chase before but decided to go against that "big bank" practice towards a boutique bank.  Even some of First Republic's credit facilities were more generous than Chase...in exchange for depositors keeping more money with First Republic....though it will be interesting to see how this shifts.

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My opinion is there needs to be more data before forming an opinion on this.

Chase can do things like SP CLIs, be more lenient on 5/24 apps, and other actions if they're doing them toward clients with established track records of creditworthiness and solid reports and what Dimon says would still be accurate if Chase is also clamping down harder on less-reliable clients who are a higher risk. In other words, "access to credit will get tougher" can mean tougher for borrowers with risk factors, while still enticing and retaining low-risk clients.

Chase has been ramping up its interest in moderate-wealth clients (those with less than $10 million in investible assets). I've been receiving cold calls from CPC specialists with promotional offers to become CPC which tells me they're trying to cast a wider net with their wealth management services, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're doing that with some of the First Republic clients as well.

[cashorcharge]

Thanks @iced and @805orbust 

Appreciate your perspectives...

[805orbust]

I wish Chase was more like the local deli and I could just call someone and find out what's going on over there.  😉

[sjt]

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@cashorcharge wrote:

I have found this interesting and wondered if anyone else has an opinion.

For the last say 6 months or so, Jamie Dimon (CEO of Chase) has been repeatedly saying publicly "Access to credit will get tougher" and "Consumers will have a harder time getting credit as the economy downturns" and other like-minded sentiments.  

YET, we have seen Chase loosen (to some extent) their 5/24 approvals on some cards, given increasing high CL's for their Amazon cobranded cards, change their policy on CLI's and shifted away from HP to SP and offered their highest bonuses yet on their Chase Business Ink cards, their IHG Co-branded card and even stepped up SUB's on their Sapphire cards.  All these practices would seem to make getting credit easier or at least not as restrictive as in the past.  I'm not saying they've loosened their underwriting practices but it seems like their approvals lately have been rather generous when you ready through the litany of Personal and Business Approvals for new accounts and CLI's.

Just today, it was announced that Chase is taking over First Republic Bank and while they catered to a wealthier clientele than say your average account holder, I also curious if those converted accounts now with Chase will stay with Chase.  Seems like those clients "could" have chosen Chase before but decided to go against that "big bank" practice towards a boutique bank.  Even some of First Republic's credit facilities were more generous than Chase...in exchange for depositors keeping more money with First Republic....though it will be interesting to see how this shifts.

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It does seem like a contridiction but if you think about it, the banks still need to lend so they are targeting folks with prime/super prime credit. Since that is a small group, they need to be more flexible with 5/24, doing SP instead HP, and offering high lines as an incentive to use.