How Credit Cards Work In The U.S. | CNBC Marathon
发布时间 2023-05-09 18:45:32 来源
摘要
CNBC Marathon takes a look at how credit cards work in the U.S., including major industry players like Visa, Amex, and Discover.
$6.7 trillion. That is how much Americans spent using their debit or credit cards in 2019. More than 60% of those purchases were made using cards from Visa, a company that has long dominated the payment card industry. As payment cards become more essential in our daily lives, Visa has quickly grown to become one of the most valuable companies in America. So how exactly does Visa make money and why does it dominate the payment card industry?
Clarification: The 10% mentioned in the video at 12:30 refers to 10% of the average 2.2% of the swipe fee charged to merchants.
And armed with impressive rewards and a loyal customer base, Amex has achieved impressive growth over the years. The company’s revenue has increased over 32% since 2017 and shares of the company have shown resilience and growth in a tumultuous market. Yet Amex is far from dominating the credit card industry compared to the likes of Visa and Mastercard. So what is the secret to Amex’s success and where is it headed next?
Credit scores, which represent how likely a person is to pay his or her bills, affects almost every aspect of an American’s financial life. One key benefit built into the credit scoring system is its nondiscriminatory practice of using just numbers to determine a person’s creditworthiness. “Credit scoring when it was first developed was an advancement,” said Chi Chi Wu, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “It is better than having some banker sit across from you and judge you and read the information in your credit report, because they bring a lot of their subjective analysis and their own life experience into the analysis.” But despite the good intentions of credit report companies, many experts argue that the current system is still discriminatory.
Lastly, Discover is one of the largest credit card issuers in the U.S. and consistently tops a customer satisfaction survey. However, the stock has mostly underperformed that of the S&P 500 and its credit card competitors. So how does Discover stack up to its competitors and what’s unique about its business model? Watch the video to find out.
Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
00:38 — How Visa Became The Most Popular Card In The U.S. (Published October 2021)
14:42 — Why Wealthy Americans Love AmEx (Published January 2023)
27:05 — How Credit Scores Work (Published October 2022)
41:10 — How Discover Won Over The U.S. Middle Class (Published February 2020)
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How Credit Cards Work In The U.S. | CNBC Marathon
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中英文字稿 
The current credit scoring system, As It Stands, is flawed. And this error of being fundamentally misaligned has huge ramifications across the system for millions of Americans. There's no doubt about this.
目前的信用评分系统存在缺陷，它的根本错误对数百万美国人的信用评价产生了巨大影响。这一点毫无疑问。
Visa is dominant. We're not necessarily talking about the affluent, urban professionals that are more likely to gravitate to, let's say, an AMX card or a Chase card. Discover really is kind of for the masses. There's no reason to think that American Express won't have a strong customer base after the next recession.
Visa是在占主导地位。我们所讨论的并不一定是那些更有可能选择像AMX卡或Chase卡这样的富裕城市专业人士。Discover真的是为大众服务的。在下一次经济衰退之后，没有理由认为美国运通不会有强大的客户群体。
$6.7 trillion. That is how much Americans spent using their debit or credit cards in 2019. More than 60% of those purchases were made using cards from Visa, a company that has long dominated the payment card.
美国人在2019年使用他们的借记卡或信用卡共花费了6.7万亿美元。其中超过60%的购买是使用Visa卡进行的。这个公司长期以来一直在支配支付卡市场。
Not only are the majority of all payment card transactions in the United States on Visa cards, but there's been lots of litigation over time, including from the Department of Justice. And the Department of Justice has had very clear legal decisions that show Visa has, quote, market power, which is the legal term, as a matter of law. So there's no doubt about this.
在美国，不仅绝大部分的支付卡交易使用Visa卡，而且因此已经发生了许多诉讼，包括来自司法部门的诉讼。司法部门做出了非常明确的法律决定，显示出Visa在法律上具有所谓的“市场力量”（法律术语）。因此，这点毋庸置疑。
Visa is dominant. As payment cards become more essential in our daily lives, Visa has quickly grown to become one of the most valuable companies in America. As of October 2021, Visa was valued at over $480 billion and reported net revenue of $21.8 billion for 2020. Shares of the company have also seen an over 170% gain in the past five years.
随着支付卡在我们日常生活中变得越来越重要，Visa成为美国最有价值的公司之一。截至2021年10月，Visa的市值超过4800亿美元，2020年的净收入为218亿美元。该公司的股票在过去五年里也增长了超过170％。因此，Visa是占主导地位的。
A really good way to think about Visa's revenue stream is for every $100 spent on a Visa card anywhere in the world, they make about a quarter of that meaning 25 cents. An actual quarter. Every time you buy a pair of shoes, that's $100. They get 25 cents of that. As the network has scaled, that's very high in Cremental margins. And so the profitability of the business naturally goes up.
Visa的收入流方面有一个非常好的思考方式。在世界上任何地方使用Visa信用卡消费100美元，他们会得到约25美分，就是一个真正的25美分硬币。每次您购买一双鞋，就相当于100美元，他们得到其中的25美分作为收益。随着网络规模的不断扩大，这个渐进式的利润率非常高。因此，业务的盈利能力自然会提高。
But Visa's success hasn't always been great news for merchants who have no choice but to rely on them for payment. If I can ask Visa for one thing, it would be for relief in the swipe fee arena. We are paying way too much. You're making way too much money off of us. And, you know, the lack of competition that you have with all of your issuing banks charging the same swipe fees across all markets across the country. It's really unfair. We don't do business that way. Other industries don't do business that way.
维萨的成功并非对那些必须依靠他们进行付款的商家总是好消息。如果我能向维萨提出一个请求，那就是在刷卡手续费领域给予缓解。我们支付的太多了。你们从我们身上赚太多钱了。而且，你们所拥有的所有发行银行都在全国范围内收取相同的刷卡费用，缺乏竞争。这真的是不公平的。我们不会这么做生意。其他行业也不是这样的。
So how exactly does Visa make money? And why does it dominate the payment card industry? The Bank of America launched Visa as the nation's first license credit card for middle class consumers and small to medium size merchants in 1958. The computer is changing our world, the way we do business. By 1970, Bank of America gave up its direct control over the card, passing the control to a group of issuer banks that continued to manage, promote and develop the new network in the United States.
那么，Visa是如何赚钱的？为什么它能够主宰支付卡行业？1958年，美国银行推出了Visa这款面向中产阶级消费者和中小型商家的首张授权信用卡。随着电脑技术的发展，它改变了我们的生活方式和商业方式。到了1970年，美国银行放弃了对这张卡的直接控制，将控制权转交给一组发卡银行，继续在美国管理、推广和开发这个新网络。
The company grew quickly after, expanding internationally by 1974 and introducing its first debit card in 1975. Every month, British shoppers signed for one and a half billion pounds worth of goods on a credit card. In 2007, Visa completed its corporate restructuring with the formation of Visa Inc and went public in 2008, raising $17.9 billion in one of the largest US public offerings to date.
该公司之后迅速扩张，于1974年开始国际化，并在1975年推出了第一张借记卡。每个月，英国购物者在信用卡上签字购买价值十五亿英镑的商品。2007年，Visa公司完成了企业重组，成立了Visa Inc，并于2008年上市，这是迄今为止美国最大的公开发行之一，共募集了179亿美元。
Visa was set up to be dominant. They started actually as an association of thousands of banks across the country. So all these banks came together and established Visa to have this national credit card. But of course, they had a dominant position because it was virtually all the banks. There are still class B shares of Visa stock, which are actually owned still by those original banks.
Visa成立的初衷是要成为主导者。他们最初其实是由全国数千家银行组成的联盟。因此，所有这些银行联合起来，建立了Visa，以便拥有这个全国性的信用卡。当然，由于几乎所有的银行都在其中，他们拥有了主导地位。至今仍有Visa股票的B类股，其实还是由最初的那些银行所拥有。
Today, Visa has grown to become one of the world's largest payment processing networks, saying it has over 3.4 billion cards in the market across over 200 countries and territories. Visa generated over $4 trillion in purchase volume in the United States, according to the February 2021 Nilsen report. In comparison, MasterCard has over 2.3 billion cards in the market with a purchase volume of roughly 1.7 trillion. Visa does have a huge number of cards out there, more than MasterCard without question. Discover cards a little bit anomalous. They have more cards than they have transactions. But Visa cards in both credit and debit are the most frequent ones and Visa dominates the transaction counts in both markets.
如今，Visa已成为全球最大的支付处理网络之一，拥有超过3.4亿张银行卡在200多个国家和地区市场上。根据2021年2月的Nilsen报告，Visa在美国产生了超过4万亿美元的购买金额。相比之下，MasterCard市场上有超过23亿张卡片，约1.7万亿美元的购买金额。毫无疑问，Visa的卡片数量非常庞大，超过MasterCard。Discover卡片略有些异常，卡片数量超过交易次数。但是，Visa的信用卡和借记卡是最常用的，Visa在两个市场中均占据交易量的主导地位。
And it's a profitable business since going public Visa has rarely had a decline in revenue and its shares have continued to outperform the S&P 500, excluding just 3 years. And although the year isn't over yet, 2021 is on track to see Visa underperform the S&P 500.
“自从上市以来，Visa一直是一项利润丰厚的生意，它的收入很少出现下降，其股票的表现也一直超过标准普尔500指数，仅在3年中未能超越。尽管今年尚未结束，但2021年Visa的表现将有可能低于标准普尔500指数。”
In one of those years, 2020, Visa still reported net revenue of $21.8 billion. With operating expenses at $7.8 billion, its total net income for the fiscal year came to roughly $10.7 billion. Their profit margins are huge. The numbers I've seen over time have been, gosh, 30-40% profit margins, where to give you a sense in the retail industry, profit margins tend to be in the 2-3, maybe 4% range. So as a business, the reason it's so profitable is because it's a primarily fixed cost business. And once you've got that infrastructure all in place, each incremental transaction that's flowing through that ecosystem comes in at extremely high incremental margins, because it's just this massive capacity network. And so as Visa has scaled, their profitability has gone up dramatically for that reason.
在2020年这样的一年中，Visa仍然报告了218亿美元的净收入。由于运营费用为78亿美元，因此其财政年度的总净收入约为107亿美元。它们的利润率非常高。在我看到的数字中，利润率已经达到了30-40%，而在零售业中，利润率通常在2-3%、甚至4%。所以，作为一个企业，它之所以如此盈利，是因为它是一个主要固定成本的企业。一旦您建立了这样的基础设施，通过该生态系统流动的每个增量交易都会以极高的增量利润率进入，因为这是一个庞大的容量网络。因此，随着Visa的规模扩大，他们的盈利能力因此大幅提高。
So how exactly does Visa make money? Contrary to popular belief, Visa doesn't make any profit from credit card interest fees. Instead, those fees are charged by the card issuer. In most cases, banks, allowing Visa to face none of the risks that come with lending money. So Visa does not have direct relationships with individual consumers. The banks do. The banks issue the cards.
那么，VISA如何赚钱呢？与普遍的想法相反，VISA并不从信用卡利息费用中获得任何利润。相反，这些费用是由发卡银行收取的。在大多数情况下，银行会发行信用卡，使VISA没有承担任何贷款风险的情况下赚钱。因此，VISA没有直接与个人消费者建立关系，而是由银行来建立关系并发行信用卡。
And so you may get your card, or I may get my card from Bank of America, or Wells Fargo, or C bank, or any number of these other banks, including local banks. But while many people think of those as Visa cards, they're really not. They're the bank's cards that happen to have Visa on them, and Visa is the network on those cards.
因此，你可能会从美国银行、威尔斯·法戈银行、C银行或其他许多银行（包括当地银行）中取得你的卡片，也可能是我从这些银行中取得我的卡片。然而，很多人认为这些卡片是Visa的，但实际上它们是该银行的卡片，上面有Visa标识，而Visa是这些卡片的网络。
Visa's business model relies heavily on what is known as the four party model. When you use a Visa card to make a purchase, there are usually four entities that come into play. You, the customer making the purchase, the bank that holds the customer's money, the merchant selling the product, and Visa that works as a middleman connecting all three of those entities together. They're a physical network, not dissimilar from Telecom network, or an internet style network. It's just Telecom, carry voice, internet carries information, Visa's network carries money. So it's a different type of physical network that connects about 18,000 banks and other types of financial institutions, globalies.
Visa的商业模式非常依赖于所谓的四方模型。当您使用Visa卡进行购物时，通常涉及四个实体。您作为购物的客户，持有客户资金的银行，销售产品的商户，以及作为中间人连接所有这三个实体的Visa。他们是一个实体网络，类似于电信网络或互联网风格的网络。它只是电信运营语音，互联网传输信息，Visa的网络传输金钱。因此，它是一种不同类型的实体网络，连接着大约18,000家银行和其他类型的金融机构，覆盖全球。
And every time that you use a card, a series of messages have to run back and forth between the cash register or the website or wherever you're making a purchase, going back to your bank that issued you the card to see whether you are who you said you are, and whether you have the money, right, to do an authorization, and then also to go back and kind of clear and settle the transaction, meaning actually move the money from your bank's bank account over into the merchant's bank account.
每次使用信用卡时，一系列信息都需要在收银机、网站或你进行购买的任何地方之间来回传递，然后返回发行卡片的银行，以查看你是否是你所说的那个人，是否有足够的资金来进行授权，并将交易结算并清算，实际上就是将钱从你的银行账户转移到商家的银行账户。
A majority of Visa's gross revenue, about 39% comes from data processing fees that are required to complete this practice. Roughly 34% consists of service revenues, a fee that Visa charges card issuers like banks for working with Visa branded payment methods. They charge a set of fees associated with that kind of brand network that creates the trust in the ecosystem, the trust that enables it so that you can just walk into any merchant anywhere in the world and hand them a piece of plastic. But if it says Visa on it and the merchant takes Visa, then the transaction works. And just imagine if you had a card that didn't have that on it, right, you wouldn't work.
Visa的大多数总收入，约39％来自于必须完成此实践的数据处理费用。大约34％的收入则由服务收入构成，Visa向发卡行（如银行）收取费用，以使用Visa品牌的支付方式。他们对这种品牌网络相关的一系列费用进行收费，为生态系统创建信任，使其能够让您在世界任何地方走入任何商家并递交一张塑料卡。但是，如果塑料卡上写着Visa并且商家接受Visa，则交易就会成功。想象一下，如果您的卡上没有写着这个，那么它就无法使用。
International transaction revenues take up about 22% of the company's gross revenue. Beyond the three main sources of revenue, Visa has also been continuously investing in other types of payment that could bring more sources of revenue for the company in the near future. This is like B2B payments, business to business payments. This is like disbursements.
国际交易收入约占该公司总收入的22％。除了三个主要的收入来源之外，Visa还不断投资于其他类型的支付，这将在不久的将来为公司带来更多的收入来源。这就像B2B支付，即企业对企业的支付。这就像支出。
That's when a business pays, think like an Uber driver or a Lyft driver or an insurance payout, things like that. There's a lot of person to person payments to people, to individuals exchanging money. If you're really taking a long term view of Visa, like 5, 10, 20 years, increasingly other forms of payment are going to be an increasing part of their business.
这时商家付款，例如像Uber司机、Lyft司机或保险理赔这样的支付方式。有很多人与人之间的支付，例如个人之间的货币交换。如果你真正从5年、10年、20年的长远眼光来看Visa，其它形式的支付将会成为他们业务越来越重要的一部分。
Visa's success in the payment processing industry has also led to a series of legal cases and investigations over the years. The Department of Justice has sued Visa multiple times, has entered into consent decrees over everything from Visa used to have rules that said any bank that issued their cards could not issue any cards from Discover or American Express. And that was found to be an antitrust problem. Visa had rules tying together credit cards and debit cards so that merchants, if you wanted to accept a credit card, had to accept a debit card and vice versa. Almost it's hard to think of other industries that have had more antitrust litigation than this one.
Visa在支付处理行业的成功也导致了多年来的一系列法律案件和调查。司法部曾多次起诉Visa，并达成协议，主要问题包括Visa曾有规定，任何发行其卡片的银行不能发行Discover或美国运通的卡片。这被发现是反垄断问题。Visa有规则将信用卡和借记卡绑定在一起，这意味着如果商家想接受信用卡，必须也接受借记卡，反之亦然。几乎很难想象还有其他行业比这个行业经历了更多的反垄断诉讼案件。
In December 2019, Visa and Mastercard agreed to pay $5.5 billion to settle against merchants who had accused them of charging excessive fees. The largest-ever class-action settlement of an antitrust case, according to the Co-Lead Council of the Case, Berger Montague. Visa also notably abandoned its $5.3 billion takeover of the plan. After the Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit on the ground that it would limit competition in the payment industry. Most recently, in August 2021, a federal judge certified a class-action lawsuit accusing Visa and Mastercard for charging excessive ATM fees to consumers and operators. Visa declined to comment on the matter.
在2019年12月，Visa和Mastercard同意支付55亿美元以解决商家控诉它们收取过高费用的指控。这是最大的反垄断案的集体诉讼和解，根据此案的联合律师Berger Montague所说。Visa还特别放弃了其53亿美元的收购计划，因为司法部提起了反垄断诉讼，认为这将限制支付行业竞争。最近，在2021年8月，一名联邦法官认证了一项集体诉讼，控诉Visa和Mastercard向消费者和运营商收取过高的ATM费用。Visa拒绝就此事发表评论。
Meanwhile, retailers argue that the swipe fees incurred by Visa are simply too high for smaller businesses to survive. I don't think the average consumer thinks about swipe fees when they're using their credit or debit card. Business owners certainly do, because for me, swipe fees is the second highest expense line item on my P&L. Right after labor, right after our payroll expense, ahead of rent. In 2009, swipe fees collected by Visa and Mastercard sat at $25.6 billion.
与此同时，零售商认为Visa产生的刷卡费用对于小型企业来说过于高昂，无法生存。我认为普通消费者在使用信用卡或借记卡时并不会想到刷卡费用。但企业主肯定会想到，因为对于我来说，刷卡费用是损益表中排名第二高的支出项，仅次于劳动力成本，高于租金。在2009年，Visa和Mastercard收取的刷卡费达到了256亿美元。
A decade later, it more than doubled to $67.6 billion in 2019, according to the National Retail Federation. The overall processing fees paid by US merchants to accept all card payments totaled $110 billion in 2020. It tends to be somewhere in the range of 10% of what merchants pay on a transaction. I know a lot of business owners, and it saddens me because so many people have come to accept it as it is what it is. And I'm like, no, I mean, these prices are so ridiculous. The amount we pay in swipe fees is so high that we have to do something about it. Somebody has to do something about it. This is a central part of the problem with their dominance is that this is the banks acting collectively and setting prices where they should be competing on price like all other American businesses do.
根据美国国家零售联合会的数据，十年后的2019年，信用卡的使用量增加了一倍以上，总值达到676亿美元。美国商户接受信用卡付款的总处理费用在2020年达到了1,100亿美元。这种费用通常占商户交易金额的10％左右。我认识很多商家，他们已经习惯了这种情况，我很难过，因为这些价格实在太离谱了。我们需要采取行动，因为我们支付的刷卡费用太高了。必须有人采取行动。这是银行集体行动和定价的核心问题。他们应该与所有其他美国企业一样在价格上竞争。
Meanwhile, those in support argue that Visa stands on the side of merchants rather than the banks. The Visa's business structure is very balanced, and if anything is actually skewed, believe it or not, toward the merchants. They actually get the majority of their revenue from the banks and the ecosystem that's supporting the merchants. So they really are pretty agnostic in the ecosystem, like they are there to serve as this central party that facilitates effective digital payments, kind of balancing both sides.
与此同时，那些支持Visa的人认为Visa站在商家的一边，而不是银行的一边。Visa的业务结构非常平衡，如果有什么偏向的话，实际上是靠近商家的。他们实际上从银行和支持商家的生态系统中获得了大部分的收入。因此，他们在生态系统中其实很中立，就像是一个中间方，用于促进有效的数字支付，平衡双方。
What's certain is that Visa has effectively changed the world of commerce forever. Visa at some level is a victim of their own success in the sense that they're so ubiquitous and so secure and so easy to use that people begin to take it for granted. For the consumer, it's fantastic, just a neighbor of their life. I mean, I just always doubt we've all imagined if you didn't have it and you literally had to pay for everything either with cash and a check what your life would be like. On the merchant side, though, the same thing is true.
可以确定的是，Visa已经彻底改变了商业世界。从某种程度上来说，Visa是成功的受害者，因为它非常普及、安全、易于使用，人们开始把它视为理所当然的事情。对消费者来说，这是很好的，就像他们生活中的一个邻居一样。我的意思是，我总是怀疑我们大家是否都能想象，如果你没有Visa，你会怎样支付所有东西，不是用现金就是用支票。然而，在商家方面，同样也适用。
I mean, cash is expensive for merchant. They have to have cash drawers. They have to have armored trucks. They have to have managerial level people that count the cash and make sure that there's not theft at the end of every shift. There's always, of course, debate and gripping about the kind of cost of taking card payments. The reality is that the alternatives are also extremely expensive and it's a very quick, easy, especially with like contact those payments nowadays where you can just tap it and go like it speeds up your checkout lines, just facilitate the whole world of commerce.
我的意思是，现金对商家来说是很贵的。他们必须要有现金钱箱，必须要有防护卡车以及管理层的人来清点现金，并确保在每次班次结束时不会发生盗窃。当然，关于采用刷卡付款的成本也存在讨论和不满。实际情况是，其他的选择同样昂贵，而现在有了类似联系支付这样的技术，您可以轻触支付，缩短您的收银时间，从而促进整个商业世界的发展。
52.9 Billion That's the total revenues net of interest expense Amix made in 2022. But despite its impressive earnings, Amix is far from dominating the credit card industry. Its domestic payment volume is far behind that of Visa and Mastercard and it lags behind Discover based on the number of cards in circulation. It's a difficult business for American Express to be in given the threats posed by Visa and Mastercard. What they've leaned into are people who use the card a lot, spend a lot of money and pay it off.
2022年，Amix的净收入总额为529亿美元。尽管其收益惊人，但Amix远未能主导信用卡行业。与Visa和万事达卡相比，它的国内支付量远远落后；根据信用卡流通量，它也落后于Discover。面对Visa和万事达卡带来的威胁，美国运通经营这一难度很大的业务。他们聚焦的是那些经常使用卡片、花费大量资金并及时还款的人。
And they're willing to cater to that crowd by giving them premium perks, whether that's at the airport or things they can use every day, whether that's a Walmart plus membership or Uber cash or things that keep you using that card, keep it at the top of your wallet. Armed with impressive rewards and a loyal customer base, Amix has achieved impressive growth. The company's revenue has increased over 32% since 2017 and shares of the company have shown resilience and growth in a tumultuous market. Amix, I would think of them as a bit more of what we call a quality compounder, like a very steady, stable business.
他们愿意为那些需要特别优惠的人群提供服务，无论是在机场还是每天可以使用的东西，包括沃尔玛会员或者Uber汽车资金等等，这些优惠让客户继续选择使用该银行卡，并保持它在钱包中的位置。凭借出色的回报和忠实的客户群体，Amix已经实现了惊人的增长。该公司的收入自2017年以来已经增长了超过32％，而该公司的股份则在动荡的市场中表现出弹性和增长。Amix在我看来是一个更像是稳定企业的高质量复合企业。
Growing revenues, high single digit to 10% and then they get a little bit of operating leverage on top that they grow earnings like in the low double digits. They've learned a lot through COVID, they diversified their business model, they've sharpened their pencils on what matters to their customers and it's really showing and they're coming back strong. So what is the secret to Amix's success and where is it headed next?
Amix 的营收正在增长，增长率高达个位数到10％左右，然后他们在此基础上获得了一些运营杠杆，使他们的收益增长达到了低二位数水平。他们通过 COVID 得到了很多经验教训，他们多样化了业务模式，关注客户所关心的问题，并且这真的很明显，他们正在强势回归。那么，Amix 成功的秘密是什么，它接下来会走向何方？
American Express began as a freight forwarding company in 1850, transporting various goods across a rapidly expanding nation. It wasn't until the late 19th century that it began its transformation into a payments company. It began to introduce financial products and travel services. Then in the 1950s, following its high success from Traveler Checks, it introduced its first charge card to offer customers a more convenient way to pay. Where the brand truly begins as we know it today in my opinion. And you know, they've had multiple products come out the gold card, the platinum card and really focusing on the consumer and the corporate card business.
美国运通公司（American Express）始于1850年，最初作为一家货运公司，在快速扩张的国家中运送各种商品。直到19世纪末期，它才开始转型成为支付公司。它开始推出金融产品和旅游服务。然后在1950年代，基于其旅行支票取得的高度成功，它推出了第一张信用卡，为客户提供更加便捷的支付方式。我认为这是该品牌真正开始成为我们现在所知道的样子的地方。你知道，他们推出了多种产品，如金卡、铂金卡，并真正专注于消费者和公司信用卡业务。
What sets Amix apart from the rest of the industry is the way in which their network operates. Most credit cards from companies like Visa and MasterCard function in what's called an open loop system. When a card holder uses the card in their network to make a purchase from a merchant, they generate revenue by relaying that information from the issuers, usually the banks that have issued the cards to the acquires or the merchants bank. Amix, on the other hand, operates in a closed loop system where it functions as the issuer, the acquirer, and the network combined.
Amix与其他行业的不同之处在于其网络运营方式。像Visa和MasterCard这样的公司的大多数信用卡都采用所谓的公开环路系统。持卡人使用其网络中的卡从商家购买商品时，他们通过将发卡机构（通常是发行卡片的银行）从发行方传递给收购方或商户银行来产生收入。另一方面，Amix采用封闭环路系统运营，它兼具发卡、收购和网络的功能。
Amix is different from Visa and MasterCard because Amix is a lender. Visa and MasterCard are merely card networks. So they process transactions, but they're not actually issuing credit. American Express is both. They are a lender of credit and also a card network, a processor of transactions. So that really enables them to see exactly what their customers are spending down to the item and have all that extra data where they can then advertise or target different rewards spend across that. That's going to be very different than what Visa and MasterCard can see, which would be just really total dollar amounts.
Amix与Visa和MasterCard不同，因为Amix是一个贷方，Visa和MasterCard仅仅是一种卡网络。因此，他们处理交易，但实际上不发放信用。美国运通既是贷方，也是一种卡网络，处理交易的处理器。因此，这使得他们能够精确地了解客户的消费情况，甚至到每个项目，拥有所有的额外数据，他们可以在此基础上进行广告宣传或者针对不同的奖励支出进行定向。这与Visa和MasterCard所能看到的非常不同，后者只能看到总金额。
It allows them to tailor some of those deals, especially on the merchant side, if there's a reason why they want a specific merchant's business, they can change their normal terms. In order to fit that situation, they don't have to worry about a bank being upset about what those terms are, whereas Visa and MasterCard would. This closed loop system also allows Amix to earn money from interest, unlike Visa and MasterCard. The company generated about $9.9 billion in net interest income in 2022.
这种系统允许Amix在某些交易中进行定制，尤其是在商家方面，如果他们有特定商家的业务需求，他们可以更改他们的常规条款以适应该情况，而无需担心银行会对这些条款感到不满意，而Visa和MasterCard则会。这种封闭的循环系统还允许Amix从利息中获利，这与Visa和MasterCard不同。该公司在2022年的净利息收入约为99亿美元。
It's advantageous to be diversified, so they get paid anytime a transaction is processed, and then there are also other levers, like people who pay annual fees or carry debt or other things that incur charges. But interest income is just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to Amix's total revenue. Discount revenues or fees charged to merchants that accept its cards brought in more than $30 billion in 2022. Contributing to more than 58% of Amix's total revenue net of interest expense for that year. They charge a premium to their merchants to take their cards, and the merchants are willing to pay that premium because American Express is bringing them the most affluent, biggest spenders.
"多元化的优势在于，无论何时有一笔交易被处理，他们都能获得收益，此外还有其他策略，比如那些支付年费、持有欠款或发生其他费用的客户。但是，当提到Amix的总收入时，利息收入只是冰山一角。2022年，接受其卡片的商家所收取的折扣或费用超过了300亿美元。这一收入贡献了Amix这一年总净收入的58%以上，去除利息支出。他们向商家收取高额费用以使用其卡片，而商家愿意支付这些费用，因为American Express引领了最富裕、最大的消费者。"
They make the discount revenue off of the swiping, and so they charge the merchants a certain discount rate to 1,5 or so, it depends. Disc and vary by merchant size, actually. But a lot of their revenue, unlike their competitors, is coming from this white fee versus net interest income. Because of its reliance on discount fees, big spenders are Amix's most important asset. Recent reports claim that Amix card members spend on average three times as much annually as those who aren't members.
他们从刷卡中获得折扣收入，所以他们向商家收取一定的折扣率，例如1.5或更高，具体取决于商家的规模和种类。实际上，这些费用会随着商家的大小而变化。不同于竞争对手，他们的很多收入来自于这种折扣费用，而不是利息净收益。因为依赖于折扣费用，大额消费者是Amix最重要的财产。最近的报告称，Amix的会员平均每年的消费金额是非会员的三倍。
Amix targets these affluent card holders through a spend centric model that focuses on generating revenues primarily by driving spending on its cards. That's where rewards come in. In just 2022, Amix spent almost $17 billion, providing services and rewards to its card members. When they talk about a spend centric model, they're really talking about being your go-to card. And I think a really good example of this is the Amix Platinum card, one of their flagship premium products.
Amix通过以支出为中心的模式，主要通过推动其持卡人的消费来产生收入，针对这些富裕的持卡人。这就是奖励的作用所在。仅在2022年，Amix花费了近170亿美元，为其卡片会员提供服务和奖励。当谈论支出为中心的模型时，实际上是指成为您首选的信用卡。我认为一个非常好的例子就是Amix的Platinum信用卡，这是他们的旗舰高端产品之一。
On the face of it, this is a travel card, and it has a lot of travel benefits with rewards and airport lounges and all that fun stuff. But you can also get a free Walmart plus membership, and you can get a whole bunch of other everyday kind of credits. They're trying to make this a go-to everyday, not just something that you pull out a few times a year when you're traveling. That high spend centric model is the reason why they can provide such strong rewards that they do. And why the customers are willing to pay those higher annual fees than for other cards, because they're getting the benefits of the spend and the rewards, because the people that are spending are actually making this up in their spend behavior.
表面上看，这是一张旅游卡，有很多旅游好处，比如奖励和机场休息室等乐趣。但是，您还可以获得免费的沃尔玛会员资格，以及许多其他日常信用。他们试图让这成为日常必备，而不仅仅是您旅行时才会使用的东西。这种高消费中心模型是他们能提供如此强大奖励的原因，同时客户也愿意支付比其他卡更高的年费，因为他们得到了消费和奖励的双重好处，而消费者的消费行为实际上弥补了这部分费用。
Having a closed loop system means how much the card holder spends is usually more important than the number of transactions made. Amix also utilizes the immense information gathered through its closed loop system to create offers that attract and retain customers. A lot of the tricky part about rewards programs in kind of big, you know, kind of more mainstream cards is that the rewards are a little bit of like ad hoc. They might have very cool, interesting rewards, but they might not be things that you as the consumer vowed you.
拥有封闭回路系统意味着持卡人的消费金额通常比交易次数更为重要。 Amix还利用其封闭回路系统收集的大量信息，创建吸引和留住客户的优惠。关于奖励计划的很多麻烦事情在于，对于一些更主流的卡来说，奖励有点像临时决定的。它们可能有非常酷、有趣的奖励，但可能不是你作为消费者想要的东西。
American Express's case, because of that closed loop dynamic and because they know you and they know the merchant, they can create rewards that feel to you as the consumer. Like this program was custom designed for me. Like they can go out and recruit all of the top hotels and all of the top restaurants and have specialized offers and specialized rewards and stuff to bring consumers, the applicant consumers to those hotels, to those restaurants. Everyone sees benefits from their role in the middle of connecting those dots.
美国运通卡的情况，因为它的闭环动态并且他们了解你和商家，他们可以创建感觉适合你这个消费者的奖励计划。就像这个计划专门为我定制一样。就像他们可以招募所有顶级酒店和顶级餐厅，并具有专门的优惠和奖励，以引导消费者，申请消费者到那些酒店、餐厅去。每个人都能从他们在连接这些点中的角色中受益。
Having an affluent customer base also gives the bonus advantage of decreased credit risk. Delinquency rates for Amix have remained substantially lower compared to other major issuing banks. Credit losses through the cycle will move really closely with unemployment as you would expect. If you think about the changes in unemployment, they roughly go up between 1.7 times and 2.25 times in a recession. The prime credit card issuer will see roughly that same sort of increase in credit losses over that timeframe. Whereas an American Express could actually see a little bit less than that.
拥有富裕的客户基础也带来了减少信用风险的额外优势。与其他主要发行银行相比，Amix的拖欠率一直保持较低水平。通过信贷周期，信用损失将与失业率密切相关，这是可以预料的。如果考虑失业率的变化，它们通常在经济衰退期间上升1.7倍到2.25倍。而主要信用卡发行人在这段时间内将看到大约相同类型的信用损失增长。而美国运通可能实际上会看到略微少一些。
So if it was to go up two times, you might see American Express go up 1.8 times. And so that makes a big difference as far as the cyclicality of the business, the overall risk to earnings and returns. It's really one of the reasons why investors kind of focus on this stock in a downturn. It's considered a safety play and that's why we're out perform with the stock today.
如果它上涨了两倍，你可能会看到美国运通公司上涨1.8倍。因此，在业务的周期性、利润和回报的整体风险方面，这将产生很大的影响。这确实是投资者在经济低迷时关注该股票的原因之一。它被认为是一个安全投资，这就是为什么我们今天的股票表现比预期好的原因。
In recent years, Amix has begun to diversify its customers further, mainly targeting millennials and underbanked Americans. I really think that Amix is doing a good job winning over younger customers as well. They've talked about how about 60% of their new card acquisitions are Gen Z and millennials. And I think they've done some creative things there with experiences, whether it's travel or dining or exclusive concerts. Like they did one with Jack Harlow. And you know, they're just trying to reach a younger audience that will be the leaders and heavy spenders of tomorrow.
最近几年，Amix开始进一步多元化其客户，主要以千禧一代和未被银行系统服务的美国人为目标。我真的认为Amix在赢得年轻客户方面做得很好。他们谈到他们新卡收购的约60％是千禧一代和年轻人。我认为他们在这方面做了一些创意性的事情，无论是旅行、餐饮还是独家音乐会。比如他们和Jack Harlow一起举办了一场音乐会。他们想要接触到未来的领袖和高消费者的年轻观众。
Amix has also made meaningful investments in scaling and improving its technology, allowing its offerings to be more competitive against the rise of alternative premium customers. They continue to make progress abroad. They were actually the first US-based credit card issuer to win approval in China. And they're partnering with local brands there to really tap into that, increasingly affluent consumer audience. In Europe, this is like French, Germany, credit card adoption, both by affluent consumers and by small businesses, is much lower. Much lower than it is say in the US, the UK and Australia, where it's quite high.
Amix还在扩大和改进其技术上进行了有意义的投资，从而使其产品与日益兴起的替代高端客户更具竞争力。他们在海外的进展也在不断推进。实际上，他们是第一个在中国获得批准的总部位于美国的信用卡发卡机构。此外，他们还在那里与本地品牌合作，以真正开拓那些日益富裕的消费者受众。在欧洲，比如法国和德国，使富裕消费者和小企业采用信用卡的程度要低得多。这种情况要比美国、英国和澳大利亚低得多，那里的信用卡使用率非常高。
And so there's a huge amount of just growth opportunity. I think increasingly, they're also tech companies in a way that, you know, whether that's the apps and the web experiences that they provide or all of the data that they're gathering.
因此，这些公司有很大的增长机会。我认为它们越来越像科技公司，无论是他们提供的应用程序和网络体验，还是他们收集的所有数据。
You know, some people say that a concept like by now pay later could be a big threat to the Amix model. They actually were the first traditional credit card issuer to unveil their version of that. A few years ago, they came out with Amix Payit Planet, which I think again speaks to offering something for everybody.
你知道吗，有些人说像“现在购买，稍后付款”这样的概念可能会对Amix模式构成重大威胁。实际上，他们是第一个推出该模式的传统信用卡发行者。几年前，他们推出了Amix Payit Planet，我认为这再次表明了为每个人提供服务的宗旨。
The biggest threat for Amix is the competition within the credit card industry. To me, the biggest weakness or danger for American Express really is that marketplace power of Visa and MasterCard and what they may decide to do with it, which may or may not be anything that American Express can control. The value that they are able to offer from the closed loop model is distinctive and unique. But as things like data analytics and AI get better and the whole process of issuing cards and managing card programs becomes more digitized.
Amix面临的最大威胁是信用卡行业内部的竞争。对我而言，美国运通面临的最大弱点或危险就是Visa和MasterCard所拥有的市场力量及其可能决定做出的一些行动，这些行动可能超出美国运通可以控制的范围。他们在封闭环路模型下所能提供的价值独特且独特。但随着数据分析和人工智能等技术的进步，以及发卡和管理卡片计划的整个过程变得更加数字化，这些优势可能会受到挑战。
As their technology advances, those open loop card programs can better replicate what American Express is able to do uniquely. So they can run better analytics to understand your consumer spending. So they can better tailor your rewards. But while loan loss provisions have increased following a period of high inflation, experts believe that Amix is more than ready to weather a possible recession. They're not by any means immune to a downturn, but at the same time with that high-spender affluent customer, those credit losses are likely significantly lower than some of the peers that are more focused on average consumer even subprime borrowers. And so, you know, there's no reason to think that American Express won't have a strong customer base after the next recession.
随着技术的进步，那些开放式环路卡计划可以更好地复制美国运通独有的能力。它们可以运行更好的分析来了解您的消费者支出情况。因此，它们可以更好地定制您的奖励。但是尽管经历了高通胀时期，贷款损失准备金有所增加，专家们认为Amix已经准备好应对可能的衰退。他们并不是完全免疫于萧条，但同时，由于富有消费者的高消费者，这些贷款损失可能显著低于那些更注重普通消费者甚至次贷借款人的同行。因此，您知道，没有理由认为美国运通在下一次衰退后不会拥有强大的客户群。
America runs on credit. The three-digit score represents how likely a person is to pay his or her bills, and it impacts almost every aspect of an American's financial life. It's like your passport into everything that you need to do as an adult. And it affects so many things. Not just access to credits, so your ability to get a credit card, a mortgage, a reasonable car loan, landlords use credit reports and credit scores. So it'll affect your ability to get an apartment. Insurance companies use them. Having a low or no credit score can have severe financial consequences. 42% of Americans said that their credit scores prevented them from accessing financial products, like credit cards or loans. Life can become more expensive and more difficult as your credit score falls.
美国人靠信用来生活。三位数的信用评分代表一个人支付账单的可能性，它几乎影响了美国人财务生活的方方面面。它就像你成年后所需要做的一切事情的护照。它影响很多方面，不仅是获得信贷的能力，还包括获得信用卡、抵押贷款和合理车贷的能力，房东使用信用报告和信用评分，这会影响你获得公寓的能力。保险公司也会使用它们。信用评分低或没有信用评分会带来严重的财务后果。42%的美国人表示，他们的信用评分阻止了他们获得信贷产品，如信用卡或贷款。随着你的信用评分下降，生活会变得更加昂贵和困难。
But some credit experts argue that the current credit reporting and scoring systems have major issues. The current credit scoring system, as it stands, is flawed. And this error of being fundamentally misaligned has huge ramifications across the system for millions of Americans. Others say many of these criticisms are misguided. The reality is that the credit reporting system that we have here in the United States is sort of like the crown jewel of the world. A lot of the criticisms are based on some fundamental misunderstanding of how credit scores are calculated and how they're used. If you take a moment to not be knee jerk angry about financial service for a minute, then I think a reasonable person would have to conclude that these are actually good for consumers relative to a world without credit scores and what that would mean to our bottom lines.
一些信用专家认为当前的信用报告和评分系统存在重大问题。当前的信用评分系统是有缺陷的，并且这种根本性的不协调会对数百万美国人的整个系统产生巨大的影响。其他人认为，这些批评大多数是错误的。实际上，我们在美国拥有的信用报告系统有点像世界上的皇冠上的宝石。许多批评都是基于对信用评分如何计算以及如何使用的基本误解。如果你能冷静下来，并不急于对金融服务感到愤怒一分钟，那么我认为一个理智的人必须得出这样的结论：相对于没有信用评分并对我们的收入产生何等影响的世界而言，这些评分实际上对消费者是有益的。
So how do credit scores work in America? And do they help or hurt consumers? A credit score usually refers to a number between 30850, which represents the holder's financial stability and credit worthiness. The higher the number, the better a consumer looks to potential lenders. Credit scores and the 500s are considered to be very bad. Credit scores and the 600s were starting to use terms like subprime, near prime, getting close to average. But you really need to get yourself into the 700s before you actually hit the national average, which is between 710 and 720, and then start working your way into the elite level scores, which are well into the 700s and certainly into the 800s.
在美国，信用评分是如何工作的？对消费者有帮助还是有害？信用评分通常代表了持有人的财务稳定性和信用价值，数字在30850之间。数字越高，消费者在潜在的贷方眼中就越有吸引力。信用评分在500多分被视为非常糟糕的情况。在600分左右，开始使用“次级”、“接近平均水平”的术语。但是，你真正需要把自己的信用评分提高到700多分，才能达到美国国家平均水平，该水平在710到720之间，并开始向精英级别的评分努力，这需要在700以上，甚至在800以上。
Credit scores and reports are two separate things. Reports refer to statements containing information about your credit situation, while scores are calculated based on that information from the report. The credit report is like the test you took, the credit scores the grade you got on the test. One is influential over the other, but they're not the same thing.
信用评分和报告是两个不同的事物。报告是包含有关您信用情况信息的声明，而评分是基于报告中的信息计算的。信用报告就像你参加的考试，信用评分是你在考试中得到的成绩。其中一个会对另一个产生影响，但它们并不是同一件事。
Today scores calculated by fair Isaac Corporation or FICO have become the industry standard used by 90% of top lenders. They're calculated using five main categories, 35% from payment history, 30% from the amount owed, 15% from the length of credit history, and 10% from new credit and the types of credit you have. It's based on an analytic algorithm, so we look at actual data patterns to say what helps us predict whether you're going to pay credit in the future.
目前，由公平艾萨克公司（Fair Isaac Corporation）计算的信用评分已成为90％顶级贷款机构所使用的行业标准。它们使用五个主要类别进行计算：35％来自支付历史，30％来自欠款金额，15％来自信用历史长度，以及10％来自新信用和您所拥有的信用类型。它基于一种分析算法，因此我们查看实际数据模式以了解什么有助于我们预测您今后会否按时还款。
One of the main benefits of having a credit score is that it provides a quick and empirically sound method of measuring credit worthiness. Americans are borrowing today more than ever, with household debt topping $16 trillion during the second quarter of 2022, making credit scores crucial to many businesses. It allows lenders to make very, very precise decisions and have a very deep understanding of the likelihood of someone paying you back. Experts say that such a streamlined process is also the reason why Americans have been able to enjoy low interest rates for so many years.
拥有信用评分的主要好处之一是它提供了一种快速和经验丰富的方法来衡量信用可靠度。美国人今天借款的数量比以往任何时候都要多，家庭债务在2022年第二季度达到了16万亿美元，这使信用评分对许多企业至关重要。它允许贷方做出非常精确的决策，并深刻理解某人偿还的可能性。专家说，这样的简化流程也是美国多年来能够享受低利率的原因。
The credit scoring system allows industry to quickly and cheaply make decisions about whether or not you're going to have credit. The cheaper it is for the lender to decide whether or not they're going to give you credit. In the aggregate, the lower the cost is for the lender and hopefully that gets passed along to the consumers in a more efficient system. Without this system, lenders are going to do what lenders do, which is they're going to mitigate their risk. What that means in practical terms is higher interest rates, because that's how lenders mitigate risk. They charge everybody more to subsidize the risk that's posed by everyone or more declinations. It's easier to say no to an applicant than to book an applicant who you know is going to default on a loan.
信用评分系统让金融行业能够快速而便宜地作出是否给你授信的决定。对于借款人来说，评分越低，贷款成本就越低，希望这种成本的降低能让更高效的系统被传递给消费者。没有这个系统，借贷人就会做他们擅长的事情，也就是降低风险。在实际中，这意味着更高的利率，因为这是借贷人降低风险的方法。他们向所有人收取更多费用以补贴那些可能会拒绝接受贷款的人造成的风险。对于一个知道贷款人将会拖欠贷款的申请者，比起接纳他们，拒绝简单得多。
Representing a person's credit worthiness using numbers also allegedly help prevent lending discrimination. Lenders often relied on more subjective methods of evaluation prior to the invention of credit scores. Credit scoring when it was first developed was an advancement. It is better than having some bankers sit across from you and judge you and read the information in your credit score, because they bring a lot of their subjective analysis and their own life experience into the analysis. And if their life is different than your life, frankly, if it's some white guy sitting across from some woman of color, that analysis can be flawed.
使用数字来代表一个人的信用价值也可以据称有助于防止贷款歧视。在信用评分被发明之前，放贷人通常依靠更主观的评估方法。当信用评分首次开发时，它是一项进步。它比让一些银行家坐在你对面，审判你并阅读你的信用评分信息更好，因为他们在分析过程中带入了许多主观的分析和他们自己的生活经验。如果他们的生活与你的生活不同，坦白说，如果是一个白人坐在一个有色女性对面，这种分析可能会有缺陷。
If the information is not on a credit report, it is systemically impossible for your credit score to be influenced by it. What is not on your credit report? Things like your gender, your sexual orientation, your politics, your level of education, how much money you make, the socioeconomic makeup of your neighborhood, your level of education. So we're able to assess credit risk looking only at the past behavior that is on the credit report and only to the extent that it predicts future credit risk.
如果某些信息不在信用报告中，那么它们对你的信用评分没有影响，这是系统性的。那么什么不在你的信用报告上呢？比如你的性别，性取向，政治立场，教育水平，收入情况，社会经济构成，教育程度等等。因此，我们只能通过信用报告中过去的行为来评估信用风险，只有在它能够预测未来的信用风险时才能对其进行评估。
Yet despite its good intentions, experts say that the credit scoring system still suffers from discrimination. A survey of 5,000 US adults found that more than half of black Americans reported having a low or no credit score. Compared to 41% for Hispanics, 37% for whites, and 18% for Asian Americans. Credit scores are based on past performance.
然而，尽管其好意，专家表示，信用评分系统仍然存在歧视问题。一项调查发现，在5000名美国成年人中，超过一半的非裔美国人报告说他们的信用分数低或没有信用分数。相比之下，西班牙裔为41%，白人为37%，亚裔美国人为18%。信用评分是基于过去的表现。
So you're going backwards in history to make a judgment about the future. The further we go backwards in history, the deeper the structural racism in the United States was. The rational racism that happened decades ago gets baked into the cake, into the system, into the institutions and policies of our society.
所以你要回溯历史来对未来做出评判。我们回溯历史越久，美国的结构性种族主义就越深。几十年前发生的理性种族主义已经深入到蛋糕、体制、社会机构和政策中。
And that kind of structural racism requires no animus, no intent, but it still hurts black and brown consumers. If your parent put your name on a bill because they had bad credit and then they were delinquent, you can turn 18 and inherit derogatory information on your credit report through nothing that you did. If you're new immigrant in this country, your prior credit history doesn't travel with you. These credit bureaus are mostly domestic, so you show up with nothing.
这种结构性种族主义不需要敌意或故意，但它仍然伤害黑人和棕色肤色的消费者。如果你的父母因为信用不好而将你的名字放在账单上，然后他们拖欠了，你就可能在18岁时从你的信用报告中继承贬低的信息，而这与你无关。如果你是这个国家的新移民，你之前的信用历史不会随着你而来。这些信用局大多是国内的，因此你一无所知。
And by the way, a blank slate is a bad place to be in credit scoring. It means that your unscored and your information starts off low and poor. 19% of American adults have no credit history or are considered unscorable by existing systems. Sadly, what the scores do is they sort of amplify those inequalities because they go in and say, okay, you're already disadvantaged. Now you can be doubly disadvantaged because the score then sort of objectifies that you are somehow not worthy of being given a chance.
顺便说一句，信用评分中空白的状态很糟糕。这意味着您的信息还未得到评分，因此分数非常低和差劣。美国成年人中有19%无信用历史记录或被现有系统认为无法评分。遗憾的是，这些分数会渐渐放大这种不平等现象。因为这些分数会说：好吧，你已经处于劣势地位。现在你可以承受双重不利的后果，因为这些分数会说，你似乎不具有给予一个机会的价值，这种说法被当作客观的评价。
That you are somehow deserving of much higher fines and fees than everyone else. Errors and credit reports can also often lead to miscalculated scores. A survey in 2021 found that more than a third of those pulled found errors in their credit reports. Of more than 700,000 credit or consumer reporting complaints received in 2021, more than half pertain to incorrect information on their report.
你似乎比其他人更应该被处以高额罚款和费用。错误和信用报告常常导致得分错误计算。根据2021年的一项调查，超过三分之一的人在他们的信用报告中发现了错误。在2021年收到的超过70万份信用或消费者投诉中，超过一半涉及他们报告中的不正确信息。
For me, it was a different person named Aaron Klein who didn't pay their cell phone bill in New Jersey. I also happened to live in New Jersey for graduate school and this stuck with me for years. One in 20 have an error so serious that could cost them either the ability to get credit or a job or an apartment. However, those within the industry argue otherwise. When we look at our data, it is astronomically reliable. So we're constantly auditing and evaluating our data.
对我来说，那个没支付在新泽西州的手机账单的人叫做阿龙·克莱恩，跟我无关。我也巧合地在新泽西州读研究生，多年来一直被这件事困扰。每20个人中就有一个的失误十分严重，可能会让他们失去获取信用、找工作或租公寓的能力。但是，业内人士却持不同意见。当我们看自己的数据时，它的可靠性极高。因此，我们在不断地审核和评估数据。
Our regulators are examining us on a regular ongoing basis. So they're looking at all of our systems around data integrity, data reliability, how we engage with consumers, etc. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, credit bureaus are responsible for correcting any inaccurate information on their reports. A research has suggested that many consumers find errors difficult to get fixed. Credit bears are like a judge that always rules for the defendant.
我们的监管机构正在进行定期的审查。因此，他们正在查看我们所有与数据完整性、数据可靠性以及与消费者互动等系统相关的事项。根据《公平信用报告法》，信用局负责纠正报告中的任何不准确信息。一项研究表明，许多消费者发现难以纠正错误。信用局就像一位总是为被告做出裁决的法官。
So if your mortgage servicer says you're late even though you really were never late and you have documentation that you were never late, it will still show up as late. Fixing mistakes is expensive and time consuming for the credit reporting and credit scoring industry. They are not incentivized to have accuracy. Particularly if the mistakes are symmetric and even out.
所以，如果你的按揭服务商说你逾期了，尽管实际上你从未逾期并且你有证明你从未逾期，它仍然会显示为逾期。纠正错误对信用报告和信用评分行业来说是昂贵和耗时的。他们没有激励保证准确性，特别是如果这些错误是对称的并且互相抵消的话。
Our entire role in the consumer credit ecosystem is to provide reliable, accurate information. If we were unable to do that, nobody would have any interest in engaging with us whatsoever. Our position is that the system only works and we can only succeed if our data is incredibly reliable and accurate. And that means engaging with consumers continually to try to make sure that they're able to effectively managing their credit and that they're able to effectively feel as though they can interface with us about any concerns that they have.
我们在消费信贷生态系统中的整个角色是提供可靠、准确的信息。如果我们无法做到这一点，那么没有人会对我们感兴趣。我们的立场是，只有在我们的数据非常可靠和准确的情况下，系统才能正常运转，我们才能取得成功。这意味着我们不断与消费者接触，试图确保他们能有效地管理他们的信用，并且能够有效地与我们沟通他们拥有的任何问题。
Another main concern is the lack of regulation and oversight that can ensure fairness and transparency within the industry. I think the idea that the industry is unregulated is a fiction and we operate in one of the most highly regulated spaces possible. You have a 50 year old federal statute called the Fair Credit Reporting Act which essentially mandates everything having to do with credit reports from our rights to challenge information, our rights to freeze our credit reports, our rights to get copies of our credit reports.
另一个主要的关注点是行业缺乏监管和监督，这可能会影响公平性和透明度。我认为行业无法监管是一个虚构的概念，我们运作的是一个高度监管的领域之一。你有一个50年的联邦法案叫做《公平信用报告法》，基本上规定了关于信用报告的一切，包括我们挑战信息的权利，冻结我们的信用报告的权利，获取我们的信用报告的权利。
You have the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which regulates credit bureaus. These are the credit report accuracy. You have the Federal Trade Commission that shares that regulatory responsibility. I must say that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which took over oversight of this industry about 10 years ago, they've done a really good job of trying to reform the credit bureaus. But I would go further, the more regulation or even more laws.
你拥有监管信用局的消费金融保护局。这些是信用报告准确性的监管机构。你还有联邦贸易委员会共享监管责任。我必须说，大约10年前接管了这个行业监管的消费金融保护局，他们非常努力地试图改革信用局。但我会更进一步，加强监管或者更多的法律。
Over the years, credit reporting and scoring agencies have made several changes in response to the criticisms against the industry. Perhaps the biggest change comes from the use of alternative data to improve accuracy and inclusion.
多年来，信用报告和评分机构已经对行业一直存在的批评作出了许多改变。其中最大的改变应该是采用了替代数据来提高准确性和包容性。
They've started trying to incorporate other, quote, unquote, non-traditional information. For example, if you pay your mortgage on time every month, your credit score is going to increase. But if you pay your rent on time every month, nothing happens because that information isn't reported.
他们开始尝试融合其它所谓的“非传统信息”。例如，如果你每个月按时支付房屋抵押贷款，你的信用评分会增加。但如果你每个月按时支付房租，因为这种信息没有被报告，所以不会有任何变化。
We've innovated with scores like the FICO score XD and the ultra-fICO score. They augment traditional credit data with rich alternative data such as how you pay your telco utilities, as well as information that's in your checking and savings account. The point of these new scores is to allow consumers to find other ways beside the historical credit to demonstrate their ability to repay credit.
我们已经推出了像FICO信用评分和超级FICO信用评分这样的评分系统。它们通过详细的替代数据对传统的信用数据进行补充，比如您如何支付电信公用事业费以及您检查和储蓄账户中的信息。这些新的评分系统的目的是让消费者找到除历史信用以外的其他方式来表明他们还款的能力。
More regulatory changes could also be coming. Two builds, the Protecting Your Credit Score Act and the Comprehensive Credit Act, were both passed by the House in 2020. Aimed at overhauling the credit scoring system with more oversight and provisions aimed at protecting consumer credit. They have yet to be put on a vote by the Senate.
可能还会出现更多的监管变化。2020年，两个法案——《保护您的信用评分法案》和《全面信用法案》——在众议院通过。这两个法案旨在通过更多的监管和保护消费者信用的条款来彻底改革信用评分系统。然而，它们尚未被参议院表决。
One of the initiatives that we're championing because we really think the solution to a lot of these concerns around how do you help consumers access financial products is an alternative data piece of legislation called the Credit Access and Inclusion Act, which would really encourage the reporting of rental data, utility data, bring new data into the system that would allow literally millions of Americans to access financial products and services.
我们支持的一个倡议是推进一项名为《信贷获取与包容法案》的替代数据立法。我们认为这个解决方案可以帮助消费者获得金融产品。该法案将鼓励报告租赁数据、公用事业数据，将新数据纳入到系统中，从而允许数百万美国人获得金融产品和服务。
But ultimately, credit in its current state is dependent on the consumer's financial decisions. I'll tell you the two things that you need to do and it will be impossible for you not to have a good score. Number one, never ever miss a payment on anything. Ever. That's easy. It's riding a check at the end of the month and paying your minimum payment. Right? Number two, you got to stay out of credit card debt. And I'm not saying don't use credit cards. I'm saying don't max out your credit cards. Don't use them as a supplement to your income or to keep up with the Joneses or to impress somebody. Hey, your bills on time. Stay out of excessive credit card debt. Lather rinse repeat and you're going to have fantastic credit scores.
但是最终，当前的信用制度取决于消费者的财务决策。我告诉你两件事情，只要你做到了，就不会有一个不好的信用分数。第一点，绝对不要延迟支付任何款项。永远不要。这很容易，就是在月末开支票并支付最低金额。对吗？第二点，你必须避免信用卡债务。我不是说不要使用信用卡，而是不要把你的信用卡刷爆了。不要把它们作为你的收入补充或是为了和邻居家保持一样的生活水平或是为了留下好印象而使用。准时支付账单，避免过度的信用卡债务。反复进行并且你会得到极好的信用评分。
You know how you manage your credit is a sign of responsibility. It's not a lot of people have negative items on their credit report because they were the biggest because they were the victim of bad luck, not because they're bad people. So they got sick. They lost their job. And now they can't pay their bills and their credit report is going to stop them getting a new one. That's crazy.
你知道如何管理你的信用是责任感的体现。并不是很多人因为自身原因而在信用报告中拥有负面记录，而是因为他们遭遇了不幸。例如，他们生病了、失去工作了，现在无法偿还账单，导致他们的信用报告影响他们获得新的信用。这太疯狂了。
Credit cards are a trillion dollar industry. In 2018, they were swiped nearly 45 billion times, paying for products and services worth just under $4 trillion. Americans owe around $1.1 trillion in credit card debt, about $5,700 each. The US consumer is doing very, very well. Strong consumer sentiments, strong retail spending, very low unemployment. All of those things are great for the credit card industry. Giants like MasterCard, Visa and Amix dominate the network market. Chase, City, Amix and Capital One are the biggest issuers. A quiet butesteadian, perhaps lesser talked about competitor, is Discover. We're not one of those companies that's always out there talking about how great we are.
信用卡是一个价值万亿美元的行业。2018年，信用卡被刷了近450亿次，支付了价值将近4万亿美元的产品和服务。美国人的信用卡债务约为1.1万亿美元，每人约5700美元。美国消费者表现非常出色，消费信心强，零售支出强劲，失业率非常低。所有这些都对信用卡行业非常有利。像万事达卡、维萨卡和美国运通这样的巨头主导着网络市场。J.P.摩根、花旗银行、美国运通和Capital One是最大的信用卡发行商。一个相对不太被讨论的竞争对手是Discover信用卡。我们不是那种总是在谈论我们有多棒的公司。
The number one performing stock of all financials in the S&T for a 10-year period is not just an average company. Discover has the 10th largest credit card portfolio in the world, despite a smaller footprint outside of the US. Still, there are 57 million Discover cards out there. It's not really for the kind of people that want to fly first class to the mall devs. Discover really is kind of for the masses. When you think about the average consumer and likely where they borrow and what their FACO scores are, I think that the right smack in the middle of all these issuers. The Discover Credit cards topped the JD Power Customer Satisfaction Survey in 2019. So, how did they win over the American middle class?
过去十年中，在科技和电信股中表现最佳的公司不仅仅是一家普通的公司。尽管Discover在美国以外的市场规模较小，但它是全球第十大信用卡组合。目前有5700万张Discover信用卡。Discover不是为那些想要乘坐头等舱前往购物中心的人设计的，它实际上是面向大众的。当你考虑平均消费者及其借款来源和FACO（信用评分）的时候，它位于所有发卡机构的中心位置。2019年，Discover信用卡获得了JD Power客户满意度调查的最高评价。那么，Discover如何赢得美国中产阶级的信任呢？
To understand the credit card industry, it's important to know the difference between a credit card network and an issuer. The network is basically the digital rails on which transactions are processed. A card issuer is the company who actually takes on the credit risk. Discover and American Express are both an issuer and a network.
要了解信用卡行业，了解信用卡网络和发卡方的区别是很重要的。网络基本上是数字交易处理的铁路。发卡方是实际承担信用风险的公司。Discover和美国运通都是发卡方和网络。
That gives them some diversity in their business model. It also gives them a really stable source of revenue, at least from the processing side. Very different from the credit side of the equation, where that could be a lot more profitable if they're charging you 18, 20, 25% interest. But there's also risk there. And it's also less predictable in terms of the trans actors and the revolvers. You know, people who are paying their bills in full, or people who carry debt from month to month. 40% of Americans are trans actors. 60% carry debt from months to month.
这使得他们的业务模式更加多样化。这也给他们提供了非常稳定的收入来源，至少在处理方面是这样的。这与信用方程的信贷方面截然不同，如果他们收取18、20、25%的利息，那么这可能会更加有利可图。但那里也有风险。在信用卡持有人和卡借人方面，也难以预测。你知道，那些全额支付账单的人，或者那些从一个月到另一个月背负债务的人。40%的美国人是全额支付账单的人，60%从一个月到另一个月背负债务。
We spoke with Discover CEO Roger Haaschild over the phone. Our model is lend focused. We're looking for people and we make most of our money from people who borrow money. American Express is model is much more spend focused. For issuers, American Express and JP Morgan interchange the top two slots on outstanding debt. Citibank Bank of American Capital One fill up slots 3 to 5. Discover is 6th.
我们通过电话与Discover的CEO Roger Haaschild进行了交谈。我们的模式是以贷款为重点。我们正在寻找借贷者，我们的大部分收入来自借款人。美国运通公司的模式则更加专注于消费。对于发卡方来说，美国运通和JP摩根在未偿还债务的前两名上互换位置。花旗银行、美国银行和Capital One填补了第3到第5的名次。Discover排名第六。
The Discover credit card was launched in 1986 by Sears Robuck, the largest retailer at the time. Back then it was part of Dean Witter, which was part of Sears. And they launched during Super Bowl 20. They had this commercial back in early 1986. This is the dawn. The dawn of Discover. They talked about the dawn of Discover and they really pioneered two main categories. Cashback and no annual fee.
Discover信用卡是由当时最大的零售商西尔斯罗巴克在1986年推出的。当时它是迪安·温特公司的一部分，而迪安·温特公司则是西尔斯公司的一部分。他们在超级碗20期间推出了这款信用卡。在1986年初，他们有这样的一则广告：“这是黎明。Discover的黎明。”他们谈论了Discover的黎明，并开创了两个主要类别。返现和无年费。
Sears wanted to expand into financial services and decided to accept only this Sears Discover card at its stores. Many merchants actually viewed them as a threat and they thought that accepting a Discover card meant they were helping their rival Sears. So that actually really led to a lot of hesitation and difficulty for Discover establishing itself.
西尔斯想要扩展到金融服务领域，决定在其商店只接受西尔斯发行的Discover信用卡。许多商家实际上将它们视为威胁，他们认为接受Discover信用卡意味着在帮助其竞争对手西尔斯。因此，这实际上给Discover确立自己带来了许多犹豫和困难。
In 1993, Dean Witter Discovering Company became a publicly traded company when it spun off from Sears. Sears eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2018, but that's another story. In 1997, Dean Witter Discovering Company merged with Morgan Stanley.
1993年，迪安·威特发现公司从西尔斯分离，成为一家上市公司。西尔斯最终于2018年申请破产，但这是另外一个故事。1997年，迪安·威特发现公司与摩根士丹利合并。
The mid-2000s were eventful for Discover and the barrier to entry didn't end at Sears Front Door. Mastercard and Visa were established in the industry and Discover wanted in. In 2004, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling in Discover's favor. Discover claimed that Mastercard and Visa had harmed its business by preventing their member banks from issuing credit cards from the Discover Network.
21世纪初期，Discover经历了一个多事之秋，并且在入行门槛上不仅仅只是Sears Front Door。因为Mastercard和Visa都已在银行卡行业占据了一席之地，Discover也想跟进进入该领域。2004年，最高法院支持了一个对Discover有利的裁决。Discover声称，Mastercard和Visa通过阻止成员银行发行Discover Network信用卡，导致Discover的业务受到损害。
They did everything they could, including reaching out to merchants to tell them that taking Discover would help Sears. After the Supreme Court ruling, Discover's business started taking off. G. Consumer Finance, Walmart and Sam's Club became card clients and Pulse, a debit card network, was acquired. With more than 50 million card holders, the company had become a major player.
他们尽了一切努力，包括联系商家告诉他们接受Discover卡会有助于Sears。 最高法院裁决后，Discover的业务开始蓬勃发展。G. Consumer Finance、沃尔玛和Sam's Club成为了其信用卡客户，还收购了Pulse借记卡网络。拥有超过5000万持卡人，该公司已成为一个重要的竞争者。
In July 2007, only six months before the Great Recession, Discover severed ties with Morgan Stanley and started training on the New York Stock Exchange as DFS. We just set up our finance department, our treasury function. Luckily, we had a heritage that goes all the way back to Sears of being conservative lenders. In the midst of the downturn, the company received welcoming news. Visa and Mastercard paid Discover nearly $3 billion in damages after finally settling the lawsuit.
2007年7月，就在大萧条六个月前，Discover与摩根士丹利断绝了联系，并在纽约证券交易所开始培训，成为DFS。我们刚刚建立了财务部门和国库职能。幸运的是，我们有自Sears以来一直作为谨慎贷方的传统。在经济衰退期间，该公司收到了好消息。Visa和Mastercard最终和解了诉讼，向Discover支付了近30亿美元的赔偿金。
Discover's strategy remains simple. Charge No Annual fee, offer simple rewards like cashback, conduct all business online, 24-7 US-based customer service, and acquire and keep the customers who will revolve a balance every month. There's a relentless focus here at Discover on a limited set of businesses. You compare us to most other banks that are big in credit cards, they've got commercial real estate, they have small business lending, we're focused on consumers.
Discover的策略仍然很简单。不收取年费，提供简单的返现奖励，全部业务都在网上进行，24/7提供美国本土客户服务，获得并保留那些每个月都会有余额的客户。在Discover，我们始终专注于有限的业务领域。如果你将我们与其他大型信用卡银行进行比较，他们有商业房地产，他们有小企业贷款，而我们则专注于消费者市场。
That consumer is a prime borrower. 81% of Discover's customers have a FICO score of 660 and above. Competitors like American Express, cater to a more affluent customer base with a higher average FICO score. In Capital One, serves a larger number of subprime borrowers than Discover. We might be more like Toyota and American Express may be more like Mercedes. I would say the typical Discover customer is probably a little bit more likely to be middle class or even lower middle class, maybe more likely to be a parent, maybe more likely to live in middle America. You know, we're not necessarily talking about the affluent urban professionals that are more likely to gravitate to, let's say, an MX card or a Chase card.
这个顾客是一个优质借款人。Discover的81%客户拥有660以上的FICO信用评分。像美国运通这样的竞争对手，为更富裕的客户群体提供服务，平均FICO信用评分更高。在Capital One，服务的次贷借款人人数比Discover要多。我们可能更像丰田汽车，而美国运通可能更像梅赛德斯车。我认为典型的Discover客户可能更可能是中产阶级或甚至是下层中产阶级，也可能更可能是父母，更可能住在美国中部。您知道，我们并不一定谈论富裕的城市专业人士，他们更有可能转向MX卡或Chase卡。
According to the JD Power customer satisfaction survey, Discover has been voted number one every year since 2014 except for in 2017. It's very difficult in this stage of the game in the United States in a very mature market to grow your business because so many people already have a card, but it's doing a really, really good job of keeping the customers that has very satisfied with the value proposition that it's offering.
根据JD Power客户满意度调查，Discover自2014年以来除了2017年以外每年都被评为第一。在美国这样一个非常成熟的市场中，要发展业务非常困难，因为许多人已经有了信用卡，但Discover通过提供有价值的方案，确实非常出色地保持了非常满意的客户。
I think sometimes these airline mile cards get a lot more attention because that's just a sexier kind of redemption, right? It's first class, airport lounge, all that fancy stuff. The fact is, though, we found that about two thirds of credit card rewards, chasers, prefer cash back.
我认为有时航空里程卡会得到更多关注，因为那是一种更有吸引力的兑换方式，对吧？头等舱、机场贵宾室，所有奢华的东西。然而，事实是，我们发现约三分之二的信用卡奖励追求者更喜欢返现。
Discover's balance sheet reflects the company's improving finances since the 2008 recession. The investors that are here are looking for high capital return and they've been roughly around that 70% plus payout to investors through dividends, share repurchases. So it's about having a high ROTCE, having a very stable, but growing business model. Maybe it's the Midwest heritage. We're not one of those companies that's always out there talking about how great we are. And there are others who do much more of that.
Discover的资产负债表反映了自2008年经济衰退以来公司财务状况的不断改善。在这里的投资者寻求高资本回报率，他们通过股息和股份回购以及其他方式获得了大约70%的投资回报率。因此，这与高ROTC成为了关键，还要具备稳定但不断增长的商业模式。或许这与中西部的企业传承有关系，我们不总是吹嘘自己有多么强大，还有其他企业做得更多。
But the last few years haven't stacked up for the Discover stock. In a one year and a five year comparison, it underperformed that of the S&P 500 and multiple competitors. On January 24, 2020, a day after the company's earnings call, the stock fell by 11%, the most it had done in 10 years. It was announced that their share of high-risk customers, something called troubled debt restructurings, increased by nearly 50%, something that has worried investors. In an email to CNBC, the Discover CEO, Roger Hosheld, said, the market and individual stock prices can be volatile from time to time. Our focus is on continuing to build the long-term value of the Discover franchise, which we believe will be reflected in a stock's valuation over time.
然而，近几年发现信用卡股票的表现不尽如人意。在一年和五年的比较中，它的表现不及标普500指数和多个竞争对手。在2020年1月24日，公司公布收益后的第二天，该股票下跌了11%，这是它10年来的最大跌幅。有消息称它们高风险客户的份额，即所谓的债务重组，增加了近50%，这让投资者担忧。在给CNBC的电子邮件中，发现信用卡的CEO Roger Hosheld称，市场和个股价格有时会变得波动不定。我们的重点是继续建设发现信用卡品牌的长期价值，并相信这将在股票评估中体现出来。
That has shown that younger generations aren't as enthused about credit cards. And though people as a whole spend more and more on credit cards, revolving debt has declined nearly every year in the past two decades, potentially hurting companies like Discover, who depend on finance charges. If you want to continue to talk to your shareholders and give them a successful story, you're going to have to come up with something that's going to look better than just steady as it goes.
这表明年轻一代对信用卡的热情减弱了。虽然整体消费越来越依赖信用卡，但旋转债务在过去20年中几乎每年都在下降，这可能会对像Discover这样依赖金融费用的公司造成伤害。如果你想继续与股东交流并给他们讲述一个成功的故事，你必须想出一些比现在的平稳表现更好的东西。
It would not be surprising if in time we see Discover either making an acquisition through merger with another credit card issue or being acquired by somebody bigger. In this day and age, it's hard to know what's going to happen, but I would say we have a complete business model which is thrown on both sides of the balance sheet, if you think about our lending products, but also our deposit products. So I feel very good about how Discover is positioned.
如果未来我们看到Discover通过与另一个信用卡发行商合并或被更大的公司收购，这并不奇怪。在这个时代，很难知道会发生什么，但我认为我们有一个完整的商业模式，涵盖了贷款产品和存款产品。因此，我对Discover的定位感到非常好。