Charge Offs Decline In October, Point To Reduced Consumer Debt

In recent months, many consumers have continued to make timely payments on monthly bills in an effort to reduce their debt prior to the holidays.

This has included paying off past credit card debt in October, the latest data from Fitch Ratings outlined this week. Charge offs - past due payments to lenders - fell in a number of sectors during the month.

Charge offs among those with prime-rated credit card accounts dropped 0.02 percentage points in October, falling slightly from September's figures to 9.2 percent, The Wall Street Journal reports. In addition, late-stage delinquencies of 60 days or more fell for the 10th straight month, and hit a near two year low.

"Ongoing improvements in delinquency trends indicate card charge-offs may recede further in coming months," said Fitch managing director Michael Dean. "Credit-card portfolio quality will improve further even as unemployment stays elevated."

Delinquencies of 30 days or more also dropped 0.1 percentage point to 4.51 percent, the news source says.

The report also noted that these declines would have been higher without a policy change from Citigroup, which swayed the final figures.