Depressed access to formal finance and the use of credit card debt in Chinese SMEs

SMEs (small and micro enterprises) in developing countries are in general financially depressed; business owners thus resort to other financial instruments (here, personal credit cards) when access to bank loans is prohibited. By investigating two different types of SMEs (namely, informal businesses and formal SMEs) in China, we find that SMEs turn to credit card debt as a substitute when they fail to obtain bank loans. Specifically, we find that households with informal businesses are more likely to use credit cards when their businesses are financially constrained. We also find that when financially constrained, formal SMEs are more likely to carry credit card debt and are also carrying more. This relationship persists after selection issues are addressed. However, credit card debt and bank loans are hardly perfect substitutes as these two instruments may function differently. Consistently, we find that even with bank loans, formal SMEs still carry substantial credit card debt. Additionally, compared to those with no fund need and thus no bank loan, formal SMEs with bank loans are carrying more credit card debt.