Lenders increase cards issued as consumers improve credit

Americans have successfully cut down their credit card debt by 15.2 percent since the October 2008 peak of 708 billion, and currently consumer credit has returned to levels not observed since 2005, according to a Reuters report. As a result, the average credit score has climbed to 704.2, up 0.4 percent from last year, because consumers are being conscientious about decreasing their credit card debt.

This improvement has some lenders eager to extend consumers new offers that will allow them to take on credit card debt once again, the report said. The amount of credit cards issued in July, the period for which the latest statistics were available, was 2.9 million, up 12.8 percent over the same month a year before.

Consumers have been able to trim their credit card debt in recent months because they have paid more into their monthly bills, while at the same time decreasing their total amount of spending.