MapInfo Uncovers Spenders Who Are Racking Up Credit Card Debt

MapInfo demographers uncovered this information integrating PSYTE with data from Mediamark Research (MRI), the leading provider of syndicated, single-source marketing and media research in the United States. Understanding the credit card lifestyle and habits of specific demographic markets is just one of the insights that MapInfos PSYTE offers to its customers particularly in the retail, restaurant and banking industries. The following profiles cross reference a metros propensity for credit card usage with MapInfos PSYTE neighborhood clusters, providing a potential index ranking of each market. -- Impulse Shopping, Southern Style--Some people would rather buy on credit than wait to save up for items, and that is certainly true for many in Jacksonville, NC; Punta Gorda, FL and Ocala, FL. These southern areas topped the list, respectively, with the highest indexes of impulse buyers who would sooner whip out the charge card than pass up a tempting item. Jacksonville--home to U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and Air Station New River--also has the second highest number of people with a personal line of credit, trailing behind Iowa City, Iowa. -- Paying the Price for Paradise--Honolulu may be one of the most beautiful cities, but according to MapInfos research, it is also one of the metros that index highest on average monthly expenditure using credit cards--ranking fourth in the country overall, Honolulu also tops the list with highest likelihood of its residents using gasoline credit cards. -- But Baby its Cold Outside--Getting around Anchorage, Alaska, could get difficult without a vehicle, and this might explain why it is one of the top cities with car-related credit profiles. Ranking in the top five for metros with the highest likelihood of residents to have auto retail credit cards, and in the top ten for people with gas cards, Anchorages population makes sure it never gets left out in the cold. -- Big Spenders in the Northeast--Stamford-Norwalk, CT, topped lists as the metro with the greatest likelihood of residents with a general-purpose credit card and the area with the highest average monthly expenditures using credit cards in the entire country. Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, NJ, ranked third with residents carrying any sort of credit card and sixth in overall credit card expenditures.