Credit Card Delinquency Rate Falls To Lowest Level In 19 Years

[Purveyor]

By Walter Hamilton
August 13, 2013, 10:37 a.m.

The nation's credit-card delinquency rate declined to its lowest level in nearly two decades in the second quarter, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The rate of payments that are at least 90 days overdue fell to 0.57% in the second quarter from 0.63%. It was the lowest level since 1994, according to TransUnion, the personal credit-rating company.

The average second-quarter rate over the last 13 years is 1.07%. The current delinquency rate is within a fraction of the all-time low of 0.56% in 1994.

The improvement comes amid a reviving economy and Americans’ somewhat chastened spending and credit habits in recent years. Many people have tried to whittle down sizable debt loads in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis.

New-found frugality has its limits, though. The average person still had nearly $5,000 in credit-card debt, $4,965 in the second quarter versus $4,971 a year ago, according to TransUnion. Average cardholder debt climbed from $4,875 in the first quarter of this year.

MORE...

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-credit-card-delinquencies-fall-to-lowest-level-in-nearly-20-years-20130813,0,4798178.story

[leftstreet]

1. Same article claims there's an increase in debt

“While we did observe a quarterly rise in debt, we would need to see a few more quarters of increases to describe it as a significant trend,”

Interesting

[Dreamer Tatum]

3. I don't see how it's interesting at all

Delinquencies are down because quality is up and has been since 2009 or so. Increases in debt are due in part to lower losses...debt is more likely to stay on the books than to roll off to loss.

[leftstreet]

7. Not sure what that means

'quality is up'

But yes it's interesting because the article doesn't state the percentage of people with accessible credit right now

[Dreamer Tatum]

9. In a nutshell: fewer. nt

[liberal_at_heart]

2. once bitten, twice shy.

[SoCalDem]

4. When everything crashed, a significant number of people LOST credit

permanently, and are no longer card-holders. The ones who were always delinquent or almost delinquent crashed and burned and are no longer even in the game.. The ones left standing are still using credit only because they have to, and are desperately staying current

[liberal_at_heart]

5. My husband and I haven't had credit for a long time because of medical bills.

[olddots]

6. we lost our credit cards because of medical expenses

just like millions of people , free market capitalism is the lead into communism which doesn't work either .

It might be socialism or nothing for this planet because logic seems to be running out along with natural resources .

[Egalitarian Thug]

8. Number of applications denied nearly doubled in last year and has doubled in each year since 2009.

So, this is just another happy horse shit, lipstick on a pig lying with selective data non-story.

Pay no attention to what you see, believe instead this shiny fantasy we're making for you.

[supernova]

10. My quality is up: having had no cc since before 2000

And I don't miss it a bit.

I pay with cash or don't buy. Period.

[SoCalDem]

11. We use.. ONE...Discover.. and pay it in full every month

I like having the cashback feature .. haven't spent any of the cashback it in years & have $552.78 available whenever I want it We've had that card since they first started Discover up as an adjunct to Sears.. We also have a Sears card, but never use it.. They keep sending us new ones when tho old one expires.... been with Sears since 1968..