{"id":236259,"date":"2010-01-27T08:44:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-27T13:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/china-embraces-credit-card-debt-2010-1"},"modified":"2010-01-27T08:44:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-27T13:44:00","slug":"it-begins-china-gets-drunk-on-credit-card-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/236259","title":{"rendered":"It Begins: China Gets Drunk On Credit Card Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"china<\/a>The Chinese real estate bubble is in full swing, but the country’s citizens maintain a reputation for being thrifty and not taking on much debt.<\/p>\n

All that is about to change. Big time.<\/p>\n

In fact, it already is.<\/p>\n

A source in China confirms that in just the last few months, several of his colleagues — as many as 30% of the employees at a medium sized IT services firm — who never once had a credit card have started using them.<\/p>\n

Not just that, they’re rolling over debt equivalent to 25% of their monthly salary.<\/p>\n

Remember, these are people with almost no experience with debt<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This is not surprising. As the middle class emerges, and people have stable jobs, credit cards offer a quick shortcut to a nice jump in standard of living. Beyond that, other dynamics, such as the gender imbalance, will compell men to spend more for mating and competition purposes.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: this market is about to get huge.<\/p>\n

Research firm Celent<\/a> has put together a series of charts showing just how big it will get.<\/p>\n

Get ready for the explosion ><\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n

Join the conversation about this story »<\/a><\/p>\n

See Also:<\/b><\/p>\n