Battered consumers play new card: Paying down debt

[babylonsister]

Battered consumers play new card: Paying down debt

By Tony Pugh | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON — For the first time in 10 years, the national credit card delinquency rate fell from the second to the third quarter, more evidence that Americans are trying to pay down their debt as the recession continues to claim jobs.

The share of U.S. credit card holders who are 90 or more days delinquent fell to 1.1 percent in the third quarter, down nearly 6 percent from the second quarter, according to a new report by TransUnion, one of the leading credit-reporting agencies.

Mississippi topped all states with a 13.4 percent quarterly drop in its delinquency rate.

The decline — along with a third-quarter slip in the savings rate — suggests "continued consumer efforts to keep debt to a minimum and debt repayment under control in the face of an already depressed labor market," said Ezra Becker, the director of consulting and strategy in TransUnion's financial services group. "Consumers recognize that their credit cards are their primary purchasing vehicles in this economy."

As evidence, the average debt among card borrowers fell to $5,612 in the third quarter, down nearly 2 percent from $5,719 in the preceding quarter.

The findings are based on data from nearly 27 million randomly sampled credit files that make up about 10 percent of U.S. consumers.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/79376.html

[ixion]

1. that's right... hit'em where it hurts

they make billions of bilking people who owe them money, so don't owe them.

[msongs]

2. "woahah, we're halfway there...living on a prayer" - lyrics still valid today nt

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. How unpatriotic! Saving. Paying down debt. What about shopping our way to prosperity?

:sarcasm:

[Deja Q]

6. REAL prosperity is nixing the cards and having living wage-paying jobs.

Not the chicanery that's been going on for 30-some years.

[demigoddess]

4. i've been reading blogs about young people in australia and great britain

who are trying to live on next to nothing. americans at least can live without going into debt. or at least give it a real good try. starve the credit card companies and they will come begging in the future.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. I do my part

I carry zero credit card debt

[mdmc]

5. --