How credit cards drive our finance conversations

According to data from Facebook, January 15th is the day when we have the most conversations about credit cards, particularly women and people aged between18-24.

This is interesting for several reasons. Firstly, it shows how credit cards have become the enabler of experiences, rather than simply a financial tool or utility. Rather than save up, young people are increasingly accustomed to the instant gratification and spontaneity of having something now – and the ability to tell the story of that experience in real-time through social media.

It also shows how credit cards themselves have become more interesting to young people, who are paying more attention than ever before in interest rates, introductory offers, reward schemes and loyalty programmes. So in other words, credit cards are the driver of two types of conversation – stories about our outward spirit of adventure and discovery, and stories about our inner savvy financial decision-maker.

Oval is an app to help users build up savings by putting aside small amounts of money which can then be used to pay off existing loans early. It is just going into testing now, but should be available middle of the year.

Pariti, in conjunction with HSBC is testing an app to help customers better manage their finances, by having one line of sight of their money, setting goals to pay off debt and start to save.