CHICAGO — Despite the ongoing mortgage crisis, a survey of credit card lending from one of the three big credit reporting bureaus found that credit card delinquency dropped in the first quarter of 2008.
The level of overall credit card debt also fell, on average. Industry analysts say both these indicators often fall in the first quarter as consumers pay off bills accumulated during the previous year's holiday season. But analysts had also been watching this year's numbers closely to see whether the current foreclosure crisis might begin to have an impact on card payments.
According to Transunion's data, the national average credit card debt per credit card account dropped 1.25% in the quarter, from $1,694 to $1,673. The percentage of card borrowers delinquent on one or more of their cards also dropped 12.5% from the last quarter to 1.19%. But Transunion also noted that this is still higher than the same ratio for the first quarter of 2007 (0.91%).
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"Even states like California, Florida, and Nevada who have experienced large increases over the last four quarters in their bank card delinquency rates showed a drop in the first quarter."said Ezra Becker, principal consultant in TransUnion's financial services group.
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