Bloomberg Surveillance · Sep 29, 2026
With Meredith Whitney, CEO of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group
US banks are lending to prime and super-prime card customers who pay their balances in full, and to private credit lenders, Meredith Whitney said. They are not lending to the consumers who need the money.
Most of the inflation debate is about what the Federal Reserve does next with rates. Whitney said higher rates barely reach lower-income households, because most of them have no credit line to reprice.
"They're lending to people who don't need the money."
Meredith Whitney, CEO of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, on Bloomberg Surveillance, has spent more than 25 years in financial services and publishes independent research on banks, housing and credit. She told the show there is no strong case for owning the big US banks.
The full segment is covered here so you can skip it.
Here are the 6 insights that matter.
Key Takeaways
Banks are lending to borrowers who pay in full, and to private credit, not to consumers who need credit
Gasoline above $4 is changing spending at every income level
Grocery spending has been flat to negative this year
Card balances stopped tracking gasoline prices three weeks ago, which she reads as high earners cutting back
Affordability could cost Republicans the Senate, she said, and neither party has explained how prices come down
No strong case to own the big US banks, which she called overpriced for a long time
European banks are cheaper and have a steeper yield curve
Rocket Mortgage is her pick if oil and interest rates fall
1. Pendulum Swings in November
The host opened with a Wall Street Journal essay by JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon on the future of America, and asked whether Whitney was optimistic the country could return to what it knew or build something new.
Voters are swinging from one extreme to the other
"You have pendulum swings today." — Meredith Whitney
She expects another swing in the November elections, with voters trying to remove one set of politicians and try the other.
Freedom and merit still underpin the country, she said
"But the underpinning of what this country is about is freedom." — Meredith Whitney
She said the US does not yet censor the press and still rewards merit, citing Elon Musk as a broke immigrant who became the world's richest man. Wall Street gave her the same chance as a woman, she said.
"You had opportunity in this country, which is incredible." — Meredith Whitney
"We've got to get over the divisiveness." — Meredith Whitney
