Citi Describes Its Support for Citi's Credit Card Customers

Citi today has announced the first edition of a new quarterly report on its use of TARP funds. The report, titled "What Citi Is Doing to Expand the Flow of Credit, Support Homeowners and Help the U.S. Economy" includes a section on Citi's credit card business (page 23) - where it says:

"Citi’s primary objective, particularly in this environment, is to fund the expansion of credit to existing card members and target new account originations, based on their ability to repay their loans" and that "in 2009, Citi Cards plans to extend a significant amount of new credit to U.S. consumers, within Citi’s customary sound lending standards."

What's not clear from Citi's TARP report is how these plans relate to Citi's upward adjustment of interest rates on outstanding credit card balances that began in mid-November.