Americans doing a better job at paying their credit card bills, says BillShrink

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Consumers are paying off their debts more than they were one year earlier Americans are improving their methods of consolidating debt in the new decade and paying down the amounts they owe at a higher level than in the past, according to a new survey from BillShrink.

After asking for insight into the personal finances of more than 150,000 people who were lookingfor advice on how to manage their credit cards in February, 59 percent responded that they still managed to pay off their credit card balance in full every month.

In comparison, the same survey taken one year earlier during February 2009 found that only 46 percent of respondents said they were finding ways to pay off their credit cards in full on a monthly basis.
"The recession of 2009 was a wake-up call for many Americans who were spending beyond their means," said Peter Pham, CEO of BillShrink. "Now we’re seeing people spend wisely and monitor their expenses carefully so that they can begin building a rainy day fund."

Improved management of consumer debt is only one of many financial signs that the economy is slowly on its way out of the economic doldrums seen during the past two years. On Monday, TransUnion reported that the number of auto loan payments that were 60 or more days past due had remained stable during the third and fourth quarters of 2009 at 0.81 percent.

The figure also showed the year-over-year delinquency rate at the national level had decreased by 5.81 percent during the fourth quarter.