Chase posts declines in credit card losses for June; past-due payments at low point for year

Chase June credit card losses, late payments fall

NEW YORK — Write-offs of uncollectible Chase credit card balances fell in June, and late payments declined, showing that credit card users are getting a better handle on their debt.

Chase said in a regulatory filing Thursday that its net credit losses fell to 8.32 percent of total balances in June, from 9.35 percent in May.

Card companies typically write off loans after they’re 180 days past due, the point at which it’s assumed the balances won’t be collected.

In the past year, the industry has written off a record amount of loans as customers struggled to pay. By the first three months of this year, the charge-off rate was just short of 10 percent of balanes. That compares with a rate of 3.8 percent in the second quarter of 2007, before the recession began.

Card holders’ problems paying credit cards are diminishing. Chase said its rate of loans 30 days or more past due slipped to 4.3 percent in June, from 4.38 percent in May, the sixth straight month of decline and the lowest point of the year.

Shares of parent company, JPMorgan Chase, which reported a second-quarter profit of $4.8 billion early Thursday, saw shares fall 70 cents to $39.65 in midday trading as the broader market declined.