Prime credit-card and retail-card charge-off rates have continued to fall in card-backed securitizations, according to the latest figures from Fitch Ratings tracking monthly performance of the asset class.
In a monthly update published Thursday, Fitch’s Prime Credit Card Charge-off Index for August (which incorporates figures compiled from July trustee reports) was lower at 3.01% from 3.04% in the previous month’s index.
It was a third-consecutive month of declining charge-offs for accounts held in prime bank-card portfolios that back bonds sold to investors, after hitting a one-year peak of 3.31% for the April index.
Meanwhile, the agency’s retail credit-card index tracking charge-offs fell to 6.62%, registering its lowest level on the index since October 2018 (as reported in the November 2018 index), according to Fitch.
“Current charge-off performance represents a 12.4% year-over-year improvement,” Fitch’s release stated.
Monthly payment rates – which measure the ratio of repayments relative to the outstanding account balances – also showed improvement. Credit-card holders boosted the MPR index to 31.28%, compared to 29.92% from the prior month (however, it was largely similar to the 31.62% rate from a year ago).
The retail MPR index rose to 17.21% from 16.9% in the July report that covered June card performance.
