Yian Mui reports for the Washington Post on the slump in retail sales reported by retailers in November - saying that "the recent tightening of consumer credit has shoppers leaving their plastic at home -- and sending retailers into a tailspin."

A growing number of Americans are concerned that the current economic crisis is threatening to leave them further behind on their retirement plans, according to a new survey released today by Bank of America. The 2008 Bank of America Retirement Savings Survey, which reflects the mindset and behavior of approximately 1,000 people across the country, finds that six in ten (60%) Americans are spending less than they were three months ago as a result of the current economic climate. However, even with this decreased spending, more than half (51%) of the general public and 40 percent of affluent Americans are also saving less than they were three months ago - with approximately one in five citing that they're saving "much less." READ MORE »

EUFISERV Payments has announced that the EUFISERV ATM Scheme is fully separated from its former processing business, in line with the SEPA requirements of the European Central Bank and the European Commission. READ MORE »

PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK has published Precious Plastic 2009, its annual commentary on the consumer credit market in the UK. "This edition explores the impact of the 'credit crunch', the crisis in the banking sector and the downturn in the global economy on the UK consumer finance market and considers whether similar trends are being witnessed across continental Europe."

Stephanie Rosenbloom writes for the New York Times about November retail sales results - including some dramatic declines in same store sales from some specialty retailers. Just about the only bright spot was Wal-Mart where same store sales increased 3.4% (not including fuel purchases) including record grocery sales. The Wall St. Journal has posted a sortable chart of November 2008 sales results by retailers.

Here are some interesting findings from the Executive Summary in the FDIC's Study of Bank Overdraft Programs released on Monday:

• A significant share of banks (24.7% of all surveyed banks and 53.7% of large banks) batched processed [sorted] overdraft transactions by size, from largest to smallest, which can increase the number of overdrafts.
• More than half of banks with automated overdraft programs (54.2%) reported that they relied on a third-party vendor to implement or manage the program.
• Most banks using vendors to manage their automated overdraft programs (70.6%) also reported that they paid third-party vendors a percentage of the fees generated by the program, typically 10 to 20 percent of additional fees generated.
• Almost half (48.8%) of all reported NSF transactions took place at POS/debit (41.0%) and ATM (7.8%) terminals. Checks accounted for 30.2% of the reported NSF (nonsufficient fund) transactions.
• Accounts held by young adults (ages 18 to 25) were the most likely among all age groups to have automated overdraft NSF activity. Among young adult accounts, 46.4% incurred NSF activity, compared with 12.2% of accounts held by seniors (over age 62) and 31.9% of accounts held by other adults.
• Assuming a $27 overdraft fee (the survey median), a customer repaying a $20 POS/debit overdraft in two weeks would incur an APR of 3,520%; a customer repaying a $60 ATM overdraft in two weeks would incur an APR of 1,173%; and a customer repaying a $66 check overdraft in two weeks would incur an APR of 1,067%.

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