The TransUnion Consumer Credit Index remained stable in much of 2016, declining by a marginal 0.7 points to 49.6 in the fourth quarter. The index, which is based on consumer credit behaviour, household cash flow conditions and debt servicing costs, has hovered around the break-even level.A reading below 50 indicates deteriorating credit health while points above 50 signify improvement. John Loos, a household strategist from FNB, said on Thursday: "I wouldn’t read too much into it. The index has stayed very close to the 50 line with fairly insignificant changes."Loos said the index seems to be flattening out instead of deteriorating with fairly insignificant variances: "We may even see a slight rise in the year. The economy may do better with the end of the drought and the rand remaining fairly stable."Russell Lamberti, an economist at ETM Analytics, said on Tuesday that the latest reading wasn’t an indication that consumer credit health had improved, but that it had remained the sam...
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