July sees increase in charged off credit card debt for Citi, Bank of America

Two of the nation's largest credit card lenders recently reported that the amount of credit card debt they had to write off as being uncollectable increased in July, reversing a trend seen for all major financial institutions since the start of the year.

Both Bank of America and Citi saw the rate at which they had to charge off accounts 90 days or more behind on payments as being uncollectable increase during the month of July, according to a report from Reuters as fewer consumers were successful getting out of debt. Citi saw charge offs rise to 6.64 percent of all accounts, up from 6.47 percent, while Bank of America suffered a more appreciable increase to 7.43 percent from 6.97 percent in June.

However, both lenders also saw the number of accounts that fell just 30 days or more behind decrease during the month, the report said. Citi's delinquency rate slipped to 3.39 percent from 3.56 percent, while Bank of America's tumbled to 4.05 percent from 4.16 percent.

Fluctuations in credit card lenders' delinquency rates are often reflected in the number of charge offs they deal with several months down the line.