Cash-card issuers now being cautious with new accounts

of unsecured consumer debt is lower than that of South Korea when its crisis

broke in 2002.

However, Goldman Sachs cautioned that the rising consumer debt burden would

weigh on consumption.

“Although we think the deterioration in consumer credit is not approaching

the same scale as [South] Korea in 2002, the rising debt burden for

consumers is still sufficient to pose further downside risk to our already

cautious view on domestic demand going forward,” the US brokerage firm

said.