comScore Online Credit Card Report December 2009, published today, reported that consumers remain cautions despite signs of economic recovery.

The report analysis the changes in consuming spending in the face of the challenging economic environment.

“While consumers continue to struggle with economic factors such as lack of credit and rising unemployment, they are showing a slightly more optimistic outlook when compared to last year. In the comScore State of the U.S. Online Retail Economy Report (October 2009), 91 percent of survey respondents believe the economy is in either poor or fair condition, down 2 percentage points from the previous year (Figure 1). However, 12 percent of individuals upgraded their evaluation of the economy from poor to fair, indicating a slight improvement in consumer sentiment from 2008.”

comScore added that the effect of changes in loyalty and terms of conditions continue to drive negative sentiment towards their credit card issuer.

“Although approximately one-third of respondents said that they took none of the actions listed below,55 percent claim that they now spend less on their card. In addition, 27 percent said that they no longer use that card at all and 12 percent said that they closed the account completely (Figure 8). Card issuers that can provide additional value to consumers while complying with changing credit card regulations may encourage customers to continue spending on their credit cards.”

Key Findings and Conclusion

• As a result of current economic conditions, optimistically cautious consumers continue to spend less on their credit cards, shifting spending toward cash and debit. At the same time, changes made by issuers to card accounts have caused consumers to lose confidence in their issuer.

• Nine out of 10 consumers believe that the economy is in poor or fair condition, and 4 out of 10 are more likely to use cash or debit for purchases compared to last year.

• Of customers who have noticed changes to their card account in the last year, 54 percent said that their perception of their card issuer has worsened, and 81 percent said that they would consider switching credit cards.

• Online interaction with consumers on the account management site has remained stable over the past year, with 7 out of 10 card holders accessing their accounts online at least once.

• As credit card issuers invest in tools and services to help consumers better manage their accounts online, over half of consumers are unaware of these products.

• Four out of 10 consumers would use services that help them sort transactions and pay off their credit card

• While most consumers prefer to pay their bills through traditional methods such as checks, there is an opportunity for card issuers to gain share of wallet by offering a variety of value propositions.

• Only 25 percent of consumers prefer to pay most bills with a credit card, but 56 percent actually pay at least one bill with their credit card.

• Well over half of consumers said that they would be willing to pay their bills through their credit card issuer’s website for rewards points or cash back incentives.

• Despite strong growth in the popularity of online social networking, card issuers have yet to raise consumers’ awareness of their presence and engage consumers in the social networking space.

• Visitation to social networking sites has grown 19 percent over the past year, compared to 4 percent growth across the total internet.

• Currently, only 1 out of 10 consumers are aware of the presence credit card issuers on social networking.

• However, at least 4 out of 10 users would engage with their issuer on a social networking site, and 2 out of 10 would do so if presented with exclusive offers and promotions.