Credit cards: Mexicans' favorite source of finance

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In the first half of the year, credit cards maintained their position as the main source of consumer finance among Mexican families , according to data from the Bank of Mexico .

As stated the report on the country’s financial system conducted until last October by the Mexican Bank, credit cards are still the main source of consumer finance for Mexican homes, though their participation has diminished in the past few years.

Until June 2018 , credit cards accounted for a 39% of the total banking consumer credit , which was similar to the percentage registered during the same period the year before. By comparison, in June 2010 , participation in this sector accounted for 54% of the total .

According to the central bank, 17.4 million Mexicans had at least one credit card on June 2018 , which was 3.4% higher than the same month on 2017 .

“Around 85% of cards issued between June 2017 and June 2018 were given to people with good credit ratings, who represent a minor risk for banks. Although the proportion of cards issued for people with good credit has increased only marginally in the past few years, the percentage is still fairly close to the average maintained since 2010 ,” explains the central bank.

The institution claimed that the growth of financing through credit cards showed a mixed behavior over the reference period. Thus, the contraction that began at the end of 2016 was contained during the first quarter of 2018 and reduced its dynamism during the second quarter.

The report also states that another source of consumer finance, payroll credit, showed a decrease . Thus, the number of people that used said products was of 4.3 million at the end of June 2018 , which was 0.38% lower than on the same date in 2017 , whereas the number of clients with personal credit was of 7.5 million at the end of June 2018 , 11.48% more than the year before.

On the other hand, the number of people with auto loans was of approximately 2 million by the end of June 2018, 11.83% higher than a year before .