American Express sees fewer instances of late credit card debt

The latest data from American Express shows that the lender saw instances of consumers falling 30 or more days behind in paying their credit card debt slip to just 2 percent in February, according to a report from Dow Jones Newswires. This was a slight decrease from the previous month's rate of 2.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the rate at which the lender had to charge off bad credit card debt as being uncollectable was 3.8 percent of all accounts, the same figure observed in January, the report said. The all-time high for this type of action came last April, when it was 10.1 percent.

Financial experts are often at odds to explain the drop in delinquent and defaulted credit card debt seen in the last year. Some say it's the result of more conscientious payment of bills, while others contend it's the result of the massive amount of charge offs in 2009.