Lenders suing more often over delinquent credit card debt

A total of 428 consumers in one Pennsylvania county have been hit with lawsuits over their delinquent credit card debt in the past two months alone, according to a new report in the Lancaster Sunday News. Lenders like Citi, Capital One and Discover have been filing suits at or near record levels for the last two years, but more have joined them in becoming more aggressive recently, even as they’ve seen the total number of nationwide charge offs decline considerably. Experts told the paper that the number is only expected to rise in the future.

In addition to civil suits from lenders, collection companies who purchase credit card debt from them are also boosting the number of court cases, the report said. This new trend seems to specifically target consumers with clean credit histories, though many agencies don’t have documentation for the cases.

Nationwide, consumers have been more conscious of their credit card debt problems in recent months. As a result they have scaled back spending while increasing their savings and paying off more of their balances.