{"id":560945,"date":"2026-07-26T22:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/560945\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T22:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:35:10","slug":"card-delinquencies-creep-up-as-consumers-rely-more-on-credit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/560945\/","title":{"rendered":"Card Delinquencies Creep Up as Consumers Rely More on Credit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>American card delinquencies ticked up in June amid a downturn in charge-offs at major banks.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s according to the latest edition of Seeking Alpha\u2019s Credit Pulse, <a href=\"https:\/\/seekingalpha.com\/news\/4618264-credit-card-delinquencies-up-modestly-charge-offs-drop---june-credit-pulse\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> Friday (July 24) and tracking monthly delinquency and charge-off rates at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanexpress.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">American Express<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.synchrony.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Synchrony<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breadfinancial.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bread Financial<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.capitalone.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Capital One<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citigroup.com\/global\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Citigroup<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpmorganchase.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">JPMorgan Chase<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bankofamerica.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bank of America<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The report showed the average delinquency rate climbing from 2.47% in May to 2.48% in June. That\u2019s below the three-month average of 2.50%, and far less than levels recorded last June (2.67%) and before the pandemic (2.68%).<\/p>\n<p>The average net charge-off rate fell from 3.63% to 3.42% between May and June, with a three-month moving average of 3.58%. Before the pandemic, the rate was 3.59%, while the net-charge off rate for June of last year came to 3.85%.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring the pandemic, many consumers paid down their credit card debt entirely,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/elizabethrenter\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Elizabeth Renter<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdwallet.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NerdWallet\u2019s<\/a> senior economist. \u201cSince then, however, debt levels have climbed and surpassed pre-pandemic levels. High inflation means they may be relying on their credit cards to maintain a lifestyle they can\u2019t really afford.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But this doesn\u2019t mean consumers are purchasing luxuries, as some households might turn to credit as an emergency fund to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/consumer-insights\/2025\/52percent-of-consumers-use-credit-for-groceries\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pay for essentials<\/a> when money is tight, Renter said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith credit card interest rates high and savings spent down, people are likely having a hard time keeping up on these payments,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>The report noted that consumer confidence in the U.S. increased less than anticipated in June, per data from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conference-board.org\/north-america\/index.cfm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Conference Board<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsumer appraisals of current business conditions were slightly more positive compared to last month. However, perceptions of the current labor market softened measurably as the percentage of consumers saying jobs were \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/consumer-insights\/2026\/consumer-confidence-in-job-prospects-hits-5-year-low\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hard to get\u2019<\/a> rose to 22.5%, the highest level since January 2021 (22.8%),\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dana-m-peterson-69063313\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dana Peterson<\/a>, chief economist at The Conference Board.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, research by PYMNTS Intelligence finds that consumers have become less positive about their current finances and their ability to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/study_posts\/the-inflation-mirage-what-rising-spending-hides-about-consumer-demand\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">manage their debt<\/a> since December.<\/p>\n<p>However, research also shows that caution hasn\u2019t driven consumers away from using credit cards, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/study_posts\/more-ways-to-pay-the-data-behind-millennials-expanding-payment-toolkit\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">66% of millennials<\/a> saying they used cards for retail purchases in the last 12 months, just behind the 70% who used debit cards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe pattern suggests that consumers are making distinctions between spending more and having more ways to fund spending,\u201d PYMNTS wrote recently. \u201cCredit can provide additional purchasing capacity, but it also gives consumers control over when cash leaves their accounts. For those who pay their statement balance in full, cards can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/consumer-finance\/2026\/credit-lines-become-the-new-household-liquidity-buffer\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">provide that timing flexibility<\/a> without revolving interest.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"American card delinquencies ticked up in June amid a downturn in charge-offs at major banks. That\u2019s according to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,60462,5746,11180,85,46,43,262,264],"class_list":["post-560945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-consumer-credit","tag-consumer-spending","tag-credit","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-pymnts-news","tag-whats-hot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}