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Monday, November 23, 2009

Credit Card Delinquencies Drop in Third Quarter

By Darryl R. Isherwood

FOXBusiness

The number of people paying their credit card bills late fell in the third quarter, the biggest third quarter drop in delinquencies in a decade.

The delinquency rate on bank issued credit cards, such as those with MasterCard (MA) and Visa (V) logos, dropped to 1.1% in the third quarter, down from 1.17% in the prior three months, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion.

The decline follows an 11% decline between the first and second quarter and could signal that consumers’ finances are improving, or at least that borrowers are reducing debt to a manageable level.

The report by TransUnion measures debt that is 90 days past due, an indicator that the card is headed for default.

When measured by state, Nevada had the highest percentage of delinquent cards at 1.98% with Florida at 1.47%, Arizona at 1.35% and California at 1.33% rounding out the top four. Those also are the states that were hit highest by the housing market collapse.

Delinquency rates were lowest in North Dakota at .66% and South Dakota at .7%.

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