Credit Card Charge-Offs Hit Seven-Year High

MoneyTips

Watch Your Credit Card Debt

Are you keeping your credit card debt under control? Recent data from Bloomberg shows that more consumers are having a hard time doing so.

Credit card issuers reported a 3.82% charge-off rate on credit cards in the first quarter of 2019 – the highest percentage of written-off accounts in almost seven years. In addition, accounts that are 30 days past due increased for each of the seven largest card issuers, suggesting the charge-off trend will continue. (If you're already 30 days late on your payments, you're at increased risk of default.)

Banks are nowhere near panic, nor should they be. Data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve shows that delinquencies are still near historic lows, well below the 6.77% peak in the second quarter of 2009. For perspective, St. Louis Fed data shows that the delinquency rate on credit card loans for all commercial banks fell below the 3% mark in Q2 2012 and has not topped 3% since then. Fro...

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