Posted by: Alina Comoreanu

You can’t get an accurate sense of the consumer debt situation without considering credit card delinquency and charge-off rates. These metrics speak to the sustainability of consumer spending habits, indicating the ability of credit card users to stay current on their bills. For example, high delinquency rates may foreshadow a rash of defaults as well as the potential for a downturn in the economy, while a downward trend in default rates could indicate economic or habitual improvement.

Furthermore, consumers continue to owe charged-off debt for years, which means ignoring such sums will paint a misleading picture of the debt landscape.

Credit Card Charge-off Quarterly 2009 - 2019 — Not Seasonally Adjusted

Year	Dollar Amount Q1	Dollar Amount Q2	Dollar Amount Q3	Dollar Amount Q4	Total
2019	$9,429,466,295	N/A	N/A	N/A	$9,018,148,730 (p)
2018	$9,042,928,871	$9,018,148,730	$8,508,481,967	$9,214,264,045	$35,783,823,613
2017	$8,166,419,893	$8,501,258,650	$7,988,104,468	$9,090,355,844	$33,746,138,855
2016	$6,757,032,024	$6,906,613,207	$6,423,715,388	$8,181,687,479	$28,269,048,098
2015	$6,284,189,770	$6,480,072,773	$6,010,661,941	$6,464,633,986	$25,239,558,470
2014	$6,628,482,414	$7,072,545,019	$5,999,938,735	$6,483,416,790	$26,184,382,957
2013	$7,405,966,134	$7,210,617,618	$6,395,116,735	$6,972,774,612	$27,984,475,100
2012	$8,371,876,328	$8,160,339,824	$7,406,113,044	$7,782,609,522	$31,720,938,718
2011	$13,502,618,356	$10,940,307,705	$11,107,626,370	$9,326,660,323	$44,877,212,754
2010	$21,977,227,136	$22,605,466,693	$17,365,814,336	$15,829,671,870	$77,778,180,033
2009	$17,554,893,261	$22,198,297,435	$22,678,132,551	$22,870,311,106	$85,301,634,353

(Source: Federal Reserve 2019, Fitch Ratings)

Annual Credit Card Delinquency and Charge-off Rates 1989 - 2019 — Not Seasonally Adjusted

Year	Delinquency and charge off rate	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual Average
2019	Delinquency Rate	2.59	2.42	N/A	N/A	2.51 (p)
	Charge Off Rate	3.83	3.83	N/A	N/A	3.83 (p)
2018	Delinquency Rate	2.54	2.35	2.54	2.63	2.52
	Charge Off Rate	3.8	3.74	3.46	3.57	3.64
2017	Delinquency Rate	2.42	2.35	2.57	2.56	2.48
	Charge Off Rate	3.59	3.64	3.37	3.63	3.56
2016	Delinquency Rate	2.16	2.09	2.33	2.44	2.26
	Charge Off Rate	3.16	3.13	2.86	3.51	3.17
2015	Delinquency Rate	2.13	2.01	2.18	2.23	2.14
	Charge Off Rate	3.03	3.03	2.76	2.91	2.93
2014	Delinquency Rate	2.33	2.15	2.23	2.22	2.23
	Charge Off Rate	3.32	3.45	2.89	2.98	3.16
2013	Delinquency Rate	2.67	2.41	2.47	2.45	2.52
	Charge Off Rate	3.78	3.62	3.19	3.33	3.48
2012	Delinquency Rate	3.10	2.79	2.84	2.78	2.90
	Charge Off Rate	4.29	4.15	3.74	3.78	3.99
2011	Delinquency Rate	3.89	3.50	3.47	3.32	3.54
	Charge Off Rate	6.96	5.58	5.63	4.53	5.68
2010	Delinquency Rate	5.88	4.90	4.59	4.22	4.90
	Charge Off Rate	10.16	10.97	8.55	7.70	9.35
2009	Delinquency Rate	6.61	6.53	6.51	6.43	6.52
	Charge Off Rate	7.62	9.77	10.10	10.12	9.40
2008	Delinquency Rate	4.80	4.74	4.83	5.72	5.02
	Charge Off Rate	4.70	5.47	5.62	6.30	5.52
2007	Delinquency Rate	3.96	3.90	4.45	4.68	4.25
	Charge Off Rate	3.93	3.85	4.05	4.15	4.00
2006	Delinquency Rate	3.80	4.01	4.17	4.05	4.01
	Charge Off Rate	3.13	3.52	3.87	4.03	3.64
2005	Delinquency Rate	3.62	3.56	3.95	3.65	3.70
	Charge Off Rate	4.63	4.35	4.33	6.05	4.84
2004	Delinquency Rate	4.10	4.02	4.12	4.20	4.11
	Charge Off Rate	5.38	5.39	4.67	4.71	5.04
2003	Delinquency Rate	4.57	4.38	4.29	4.62	4.47
	Charge Off Rate	5.77	6.11	5.40	6.07	5.84
2002	Delinquency Rate	4.85	4.61	4.96	5.05	4.87
	Charge Off Rate	7.85	6.27	6.94	5.63	6.42
2001	Delinquency Rate	4.75	4.75	5.09	4.86	4.86
	Charge Off Rate	4.77	5.24	5.25	6.43	5.42
2000	Delinquency Rate	4.35	4.32	4.62	4.70	4.5
	Charge Off Rate	4.62	4.24	4.29	4.70	4.46
1999	Delinquency Rate	4.61	4.29	4.64	4.63	4.54
	Charge Off Rate	5.04	4.38	4.40	4.64	4.62
1998	Delinquency Rate	4.72	4.56	4.80	4.82	4.73
	Charge Off Rate	5.26	5.08	5.24	5.30	5.22
1997	Delinquency Rate	4.67	4.55	4.77	4.90	4.72
	Charge Off Rate	4.92	5.40	5.38	5.60	5.33
1996	Delinquency Rate	4.04	4.12	4.53	4.68	4.34
	Charge Off Rate	4.21	4.53	4.45	4.73	4.48
1995	Delinquency Rate	3.48	3.57	3.90	3.99	3.74
	Charge Off Rate	2.94	3.33	3.63	4.01	3.48
1994	Delinquency Rate	3.62	3.18	3.29	3.30	3.35
	Charge Off Rate	3.29	3.06	2.92	3.13	3.10
1993	Delinquency Rate	4.63	4.33	4.14	3.91	4.25
	Charge Off Rate	4.09	3.90	3.58	3.39	3.74
1992	Delinquency Rate	5.31	4.96	5.04	4.70	5.00
	Charge Off Rate	4.91	4.93	4.38	4.58	4.70
1991	Delinquency Rate	5.29	5.32	5.41	5.30	5.33
	Charge Off Rate	4.18	4.68	4.75	4.69	4.58
1990	Delinquency Rate	–	–	–	–	–
	Charge Off Rate	3.13	3.28	3.48	3.87	3.44
1989	Delinquency Rate	–	–	–	–	–
	Charge Off Rate	–	3.21	3.03	3.31	3.17

(Source: Federal Reserve, May 2019)

Annual Credit Card Delinquency and Charge-off Rates 1989 - 2019 — Not Seasonally Adjusted

(Source: Federal Reserve, May 2019)

Percentage of Consumers with Late and Missed Payments

Year	Late Payments	Missed Payments
2019	6%	4%
2018	8%	6%
2017	7%	6%
2016	7%	4%
2015	6%	4%
2014	7%	3%
2013	4%	8%
2012	11%	8%
2011	9%	5%
2010	12%	8%
2009	15%	8%

(Source: NFCC, 2019 Consumer Financial Literacy Survey)

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