Late Card Payments Decline — New Customer Use Patterns Emerging?

In increasing signs of a perking — or at least, stabilizing — economy, comes the news that late payments on credit cards are at a 20-year low. According to an AP article, the credit reporting bureau TransUnion is reporting “ the second-lowest recorded since the second quarter of 1994, when the rate was 0.56 percent, and it’s running ahead of the historical average of 1.03 percent. The firm’s records go back to 1992.”

Dueling Reports, and Women: They’re Better Credit Risks Than Men. Or Not.

Once again, this week’s news cycle in the world of credit and finance gives us a fascinating glimpse into how varied the metrics are of credit card reporting, to the degree that two different studies can came out at the same time, each claiming different conclusions about how women use credit cards.

More on the Young, and their Credit

A few weeks back, we mentioned some conflicting reports on young adults and their use of credit.  On the one hand, they were getting deeper in debt — due to sluggish job prospects and increased school costs, among other things. On the other, they were generally preferring to use debit cards, instead of credit cards, to pay for things where plastic was required, to avoid piling up even more debt.