Capital One sees fewer delinquencies, more defaults in April

The way in which consumers handled their credit card debt issued by one of the nation's top lenders was a bit of a mixed bag in April.

The latest regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Capital One Financial shows that while the company once again saw instances of credit card payments that were 30 days or more behind on payments slipped once again last month, it also saw more significantly late accounts that had to be written off as uncollectable, according to a report from Dow Jones Newswires. Capital One said its 30-day delinquency rate fell to just 3.18 percent of all accounts, down from 3.25 percent in March.

On the other hand, it also saw charged off accounts rise to 4.07 percent of balances, up significantly from the 3.85 percent seen the month before, the report said. In recent months, the company had largely been seeing improved credit quality from its lending portfolio.

In general, fluctuations in the delinquency rate are usually observed in those for defaulted accounts several months down the road, but both are signs that consumers might need a little bit of debt relief.