Amex and JPMorgan Credit Card Write-Offs Stay Low

Credit card delinquency rates at two of America’s biggest lenders remained low last month.

Reports Thursday (June 15) from Seeking Alpha (SA) showed delinquency rates holding steady for both American Express and JPMorgan Chase.

Meanwhile, Capital One saw its delinquency rates and net charge-off rates rise in May, bringing the company’s delinquency rate back to its pre-pandemic levels, the publication said.

May’s delinquency rate was 3.64%, up from 3.57% in April and 3.29% in May of 2019, the report said. Credit card loans at the bank came to $135.3 billion for May, compared to $132.7 billion for the prior month.

It was a different story at JPMorgan, where the delinquency rate actually fell slightly from April to May, a measure of what SA notes is the bank’s “high credit score” customer base.

The delinquency rate at American Express remained at 1.1% for the fourth consecutive month, and below the May 2019 level of 1.4%. Borrowing among customers was up, with loans rising from $73.8 billion in April to $75.5 billion in May.

Earlier this month, PYMNTS reported on data from VantageScore showing credit card delinquencies rising compared to a year ago, especially among subprime consumers, whose delinquency rates jumped 20% year over year.

The VantageScore report found that overall delinquencies in April (the most recent data presented at the time) in 30 to 59 days past due categories rose to 0.6% from 0.2% last year. Year-over-year balances climbed 5.6% in April to $5,457.

“Drilling down a bit into auto lending, for loans past due, in the aggregate, the 30- to 59-day delinquency rate stood at 1.88% in April, a bump up from 1.6% in March, and higher than 1.5% last year,” that report noted. “The balance-to-loan ratio stood at 64%, indicating there’s a lot left to pay down.”

Meanwhile, recent research by PYMNTS finds that a significant number of consumers are “credit marginalized,” meaning that they’ve been rejected at least one time over the last year when applying for credit products.

That research also shows that more “high earners” — consumers who earn more than $100,000 per year — are marginalized more than any other income bracket. According to the report, 38% of higher earners fit this category, versus 29% for consumers and households earning between $50,000 to $100,000 and roughly 33% for those earning less than $50,000.