Five of the nation's top six credit card issuers said Monday that late payments rose in September — an early sign that credit card users may again be having trouble paying their bills, The Associated Press reports.
September marks the first month since February 2009 that so many major companies reported upticks in payments late by 30 days or more.
The biggest increase reported Monday was at Capital One Financial Corp., which saw delinquencies rise to 3.65 percent of balances on an annualized basis, up from 3.43 percent in August. American Express Co.’s delinquencies accounted for 1.5 percent of balances, up from 1.4 percent in August. Discover Financial Services' rate, which was 2.5 percent, also rose just one-tenth of a percentage point, while Chase, the nation's largest card company by spending volume, posted a rate of 2.53 percent, up from 2.48 percent.
Bank of America's rate, the highest in the industry, rose from 3.96 percent to 3.99 percent. Citibank's card division had not yet reported its September results as of Monday evening.
Although delinquencies rose, all of the banks reported lower default rates for September than August, reflecting the broader trend for the industry since mid-2010. Bank of America had the highest default rate reported Monday, at 5.99 percent of balances annualized. American Express had the lowest rate, at 2.3 percent.
Federal Reserve data show that, at its highest, the industry-wide card default, or charge-off, rate, hit 10.96 percent of balances in 2010's second quarter. It was 5.6 percent in this 2011’s second quarter, the latest period for which complete data is available.
According to AP, analysts say they expect improvements in delinquencies and defaults to level off as the year draws to a close.
