Capital One Says More Americans Are Paying Down Credit Debt

Despite fluctuations in recent months and the temptations of the holiday shopping season, consumers made an increased effort to make timely payments to credit card lenders in December.

Capital One Financial, one of the nation's biggest card issuers, reported this week that charge offs and delinquencies on its credit card accounts saw big declines in December.

Delinquencies - late payments on consumer credit card bills - of 30 days or more fell to 4.09 during the month, down from the 4.26 percent observed in November, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

In addition, the lender announced charge offs - accounts that are viewed as uncollectable by the bank - dropped to 7.01 in December, down from 7.56 percent the previous month, the news source says. Despite this, Americans showed signs of falling behind on car loans, as charge offs on this debt increased by 0.02 percentage points.

However, these declines were likely due to the fact that many Americans avoiding using plastic for purchases this holiday season, instead opting for purchases made with cash or checks.