How Would a Flu Pandemic Affect Credit Card Holders?

There’s been a lot of talk about the swine flu lately. Fortunately, it’s now been determined that the H1N1 virus is no deadlier than the usual virus we battle each flu season. Still, if a virus of any sort were to result in a major pandemic, human health is not the only potential casualty. If tragedy struck, consumer spending could fall sharply. Banks could close their doors. What affect would this have on card holders?

Kimberly Palmer of the U.S. News & World Report recently quoted an interview with Dennis Moroney of TowerGroup. The research director for bank cards suggested that, in the face of a pandemic, many bankers and tellers would be too afraid to come to work. Banks would close and ATMs would remain empty, denying people access to much-needed cash.

Still, Moroney was cautiously optimistic in the interview. In the past, a pandemic could have resulted in a huge financial meltdown. Now, with the help of telecommuting and the Internet, Moroney believes that a pandemic would cause inconvenience and a disruption of service, but little else. Unless the pandemic stretched on for a prolonged period of time, he did not feel that such a scenario would have a real material impact.