Fewer charge card delinquencies are being reported, and the level of charge card debt is declining as well. Credit bureau TransUnion is reporting that not only are people paying their cards off, they’re also applying for more as newly issued cards increased. It is a good sign. Individuals are paying off their cards even after a holiday purchasing spree.
Consumers get out of debt in 2010
During the last three months of 2010, the number of delinquencies for credit cards declined considerably, according to ABC. The rate of delinquency in the last three months of 2010 was at 0.82 percent which compares to the 1.21 percent that the last three months of 2009 showed. This was documented by TransUnion. A delinquency rate of .83 percent was documented for the 3rd quarter of 2010. Generally during the holidays the number of delinquencies goes up drastically; however, it seems that this year more people preferred to stay out of debt than to purchase a lot of presents.
Balances never stay the same
The charge card national average balance has changed also. It went down a bit. There was a drop of 8.6 percent from the third quarter of 2009 to the 3rd quarter of 2010 in the balance for all major charge card businesses. Including Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover, the average balance combined was at $4,965 in the last three quarters of 2010. In 33 states, the balance went up actually. There were highest account balances in three places. These were Washington D.C., Iowa and Mississippi.
More and more cards
There have been a lot of complaints from charge card companies the CARD Act makes it extremely hard for them to do business. Still, there have been more new charge cards than ever. There was a 19.1 percent increase in the last quarter of 2010 in the number of new charge cards given out. Since 2007, there has not been a time where the number of charge cards issued went up for two consecutive quarters. It just happened though which is a good sign.
Information from
ABC News
abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=12968324&page=1
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/23/AR2011022306978.html
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