U.S. credit card defaults increased in April to record highs, Reuters reported Friday, citing reports on the performance of credit card loans that issuers packaged into bonds and sold to investors.
» Citigroup (C) —a big issuer of MasterCard cards—reported its annualized charge-off rate hit 10.21% in April from 9.66% in March.
» Wells Fargo (WFC) said its charge-off rate increased in the double digits too, printing 10.03% from 9.68%.
» JPMorgan Chase (JPM)—a big issuer of Visa (V)cards —reported its charge-off rate rose to 8.07% from 7.13% in the previous month.
» Discover Financial Services, (DFS) the U.S. fourth-largest credit card network, said its default rate rose to 8.26% in April from 7.39% in March.
The U.S. credit card delinquency rate continues to jump. According to some analysts, loan losses could reach between $70 billion and $75 billion if credit card losses across the industry top 10%.
Let’s hope we don’t move from the mortgage crisis to the credit card crisis.
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