Consumers Continue To Pay Off Debt To Lenders
Continuing a string of positive delinquency reports for the month of December, Moody's Investors Service announced the charge off rate for U.S. credit cards continued the downward decent it began in September of last year.
In addition, the financial services company reported early stage late payments to credit card companies reached an all time low.
Charge offs - consumer credit card debt written off as uncollectable - fell to a rate of 8.03 percent for the month, down from a peak in August of 2009 when it reached a high of 11.5 percent, Moody's reports. Every credit card trust also saw monthly improvement in this category along with declines in the delinquency rate.
Americans also made more timely payments to their creditors, as the number of accounts more than 30 days delinquent dropped to 4.17 percent, down from 4.38 percent in November. This rate was lowest level seen in more than 36 months, the news source says.
Despite the temptations of the holiday shopping season, the information indicates many consumers did not overextend their budgets and continued to repay their past debt in a responsible manner.