DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) said delinquencies at its U.S.
credit-card business dropped in December as charge-offs followed
suit.
While charge-offs--loans banks don't expect to be able to
collect--and delinquencies remain below 2010 levels, the progress
has been uneven.
The company's U.S. credit-card business saw 30-day delinquencies
drop to 3.66% in December from 3.73% the previous month, and edge
down to 5.18% from 5.22% internationally. The auto-loan 30-day
delinquency rate rose to 7.37% from 7.1%.
At Capital One's U.S. card business, net charge-offs fell to
3.98% last month from 4.29% in November. Internationally, the rate
was up at 5.76% from 5.32%, according to a filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Auto-financing charge-offs rose to 2.25% from 1.98%.
Capital One in October reported that its loan write-offs and
delinquencies continued to fall in the third quarter on a
year-to-year basis, though the improvements showed signs of slowing
and late payments were up sequentially.
Capital One, which transformed itself from a credit-card lender
to a bank just before the financial crisis hit, has lately
benefited from improving credit quality and has been working to
expand through acquisitions.
Shares closed Friday at $48.89 and were inactive premarket. The
stock is up 21% over the past three months.
--By Ben Fox Rubin, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3108;
ben.rubin@dowjones.com