February Charge Offs, Delinquencies Rise at Major Card Issuers

Major credit card issuers saw their charge offs rise in February, according to data compiled for their Master Trust portfolios and filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Citibank reported receivables in its Master Trust grew to a little more than $77 billion at the end of February, up more than 6 percent from the same period a year ago. Defaulted receivables came in at $270 million on Feb. 26, up more than 50 percent from nearly $179 million a year ago.

The Credit Card Master Trust for retailer Target reported charge offs of $47.5 million in February, up nearly 42 percent from a year ago. The percentage of annualized net charge offs was 6.83 percent this year, compared with 6.18 percent in 2006.

Receivables totaled $8.4 billion on February 29. Target reported last week it would sell half the portfolio to an unnamed buyer for about $4 billion ("Target to Sell Half of Card Portfolio," March 13).

There were $55.4 million in gross charge offs in February, up 32 percent from a year ago. The recovery rate fell to 14.4 percent from 20.3 percent. Delinquencies ranging from 60 days to 120 days past due totaled more than $522 million, up from $337 million.

Capital One Financial Corp. reported last week its Master Trust had an annualized default rate of 7.3 percent in February, up nearly 44 percent from 5.1 percent in February 2006. There was $281 million in defaulted accounts in February 2008.

Receivables totaled $45.9 billion. Thirty-day delinquencies rose from $1.6 billion a year ago to $2.1 billion this year.