Reply #7: April credit card data shows fewer late payments [View All]

NEW YORK – More consumers paid their credit card bills on time in April, in another sign the fledging economic recovery may be picking up some steam.

Capital One, Discover, American Express, Chase and Citibank all said the rate at which they wrote off unpaid credit card bills fell last month. Several lenders saw improvement for the second straight month.

American Express had the lowest rate at 6.7 percent of its total loans, down from 7.5 percent in March. American Express customers tend to be more affluent than those of some of the other lenders.

Of the top six U.S. credit card issuers, only Bank of America posted higher charge-offs for April — 12.71 percent versus 12.54 percent in March. Citi took the No. 2 highest spot at 11.23 percent of total balances, though that improved from 11.55 percent in March.

Every one of the top six issuers said the number of bills 30 days or more past due declined in April. Bank of America had the highest late payment rate at 6.73 percent of its total credit card loans, but that was still less than the 7.07 percent a month earlier. American Express had the lowest delinquency rate at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent in March.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100517/ap_on_bi_ge/us_credit_cards_charge_offs

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Barry Ritholtz, among others, believe that the consumer spending upswing and the drop in credit card defaults is due to higher mortgage delinquencies. Don't pay the mortgage: higher disposable income.