Delinquent and defaulted credit card debt dropped in September

Both delinquent and defaulted credit card debt declined sharply in September, indicating consumers are having a better time paying off their bills, according to the latest Credit Card Index from Fitch Ratings. Delinquencies in general fell to a low not seen in two years, with accounts that were 30 days behind dropping to 4.61 percent, while those that have gone 60 days without payment fell to 3.5 percent.

Meanwhile, defaults – the rate at which lenders wrote off seriously delinquent credit card debt as irretrievable – fell to an 18-month low, the Fitch report said. After a slight rise in August, the charge-off rate dropped to 9.22 percent in September, and was 14 percent lower than the same period last year.

Many financial experts say rates of delinquency are an indicator of future charge offs, so for both types of accounts to continue to slide may signal consumers are having an easier time paying down their credit card debt.