According to the monthly Credit Card Indices Report from Moody’s Investors Service, Americans appear to be decreasing their aberrant “credit card debt”; thereby resulting in an improvement in their balance sheets.

Going by the statistics forwarded by the report, the 4.93 percent plunge in the credit card delinquency rate in July marked the ninth successive monthly fall; bringing an end to the ‘above 5 percent’ credit card delinquency rate that persisted for 20 months in a row. 

Noting that the amount of money comprising “credit card debt” in the second quarter was at its lowest level in over eight years, TransUnion said that, in the quarter that ended June 30, there was a 4.1 percent fall in bank-issued credit card debt, to an average $4,591, as against the first quarter figures of $5,165. The number is also notably down from the 2009 second-quarter figures of 13.4 percent from $5,719. 

As per Moody’s, the credit card delinquency rate figures for July indicate that credit card charge-offs have apparently passed their peak levels and will show a persistent improvement throughout the remaining part of the year.

Furthermore, according to the report, the amount of “charge-off” – that is, credit card debt which has been perceived as irrecoverable by the industry – also witnessed a fall for the fourth successive month in July. With charge-offs being 9.3 percent of total outstanding debt in July, the unprecedented 14-month period of the ‘above 10 percent’ charge-off rate came to an end.