With the help of a commercial bank in China, we studied consumer credit card debt
behavior2 in correlation with demographics, attitude, personality, and credit card features
factors. The study was conducted by using mail-in questionnaires, which were sent to credit
card holders who was using or had used either revolving credit or petty installment plans.
According to regression functions, we found that demographic variables and credit card
features had limited explanatory power compared to attitude variables and personality variables.
Specifically, we found that revolving credit use and petty installment use were closely
related to attitudes about credit cards, money and debt. Risk attitude efficiently predicted
petty installment use; however, it did not correlate with revolving credit use. Personality factors
of self-control, self-esteem, self-efficacy, deferring gratification, internal locus of control
and impulsiveness were significantly correlated with revolving credit use; on the other hand,
sensation seeking, impulsiveness, and deferring gratification were correlated with petty
installment use. We also found that some credit card features easily led to an ‘‘illusion of
income’’ that facilitated consumer credit card debt behavior.