Synchrony: Consumers Becoming ‘More Thoughtful About Spending’

American consumers are growing more cautious about spending, according to an executive at card issuer Synchrony.

In an interview with Reuters published Tuesday (March 25), Synchrony EVP and Chief Credit Officer Max Axler said that while Americans’ finances are more or less healthy, consumers are still preparing for their budgets to be stretched.

“Purchase volumes have gone down across the industry as consumers across all income groups become more thoughtful about spending,” Axler told Reuters, noting that most customers are staying on top of their loan repayments.

The report notes other signs of economic distress, including a recent report from the Federal Reserve showing that consumers have been racking up more debt, with auto loan, credit card and home credit line delinquencies creeping up.

Meanwhile, U.S. consumer sentiment fell to levels not seen in more than two years in March amid a rise in expectations about inflation. Reuters says that some economists have cautioned that President Donald Trump’s widespread tariffs could raise prices and hinder growth.

Worries about higher prices have driven consumers’ long-term inflation expectations to the highest levels in more than 30 years.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty in the market,” QED Investors partner Amias Gerety told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster earlier this month. “Consumers are still spending, but you can see hesitancy creeping in, especially when it comes to big-ticket purchases.”

There is also recent data showing that access to credit could be tightening, according to the latest edition of the Survey of Consumer Expectations Credit Access Survey, released last week by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

That survey shows that rejection rates have risen across all major credit products, with the perceived probability of a rejection for auto loans coming to 33.5% last month, the highest level since the survey began.

The data also shows that the share of consumers expecting credit access to worsen over the next year surged to 46.7%, up from 42.3% in October 2024.

Speaking with Reuters Tuesday, HSBC analyst Saul Martinez said that loan growth across the banking sector had slowed by 5% to 12% in February compared to a year earlier.

“There is clearly a slowdown, and it shows that the consumer is vulnerable,” Martinez said. “And for banks, slowing loan growth could result in lower net interest income and revenue.”