Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) said delinquencies at its U.S.
credit-card business declined in March over the month earlier,
though charge-offs inched higher.
While charge-offs--loans banks don't expect to be able to
collect--and delinquencies have continued to recover at many
financial institutions, the progress has been uneven.
Capital One' U.S. credit-card business saw 30-day delinquencies
decline to 3.25% last month from 3.62% in February, according to a
filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
At its international credit-card business, the rate decreased to
5.14% from 5.25% a month earlier. Auto-loan delinquencies dropped
to 5.13% from 5.61%.
Charge-offs at the U.S. card business inched up to 3.85% in
March from 3.84% a month earlier. Internationally, the rate rose to
5.5% from 5.43% a month earlier. Auto-financing charge-offs were
down at 0.81% from 1.29%.
Capital One, which transformed from a credit-card lender to a
bank just before the financial crisis hit, has lately benefited
from improving credit quality and has been working to expand
through acquisitions.
Shares closed Friday at $53.47 and were inactive in recent
premarket trading. The stock is up 26% since the start of the
year.
-By Mia Lamar, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3207;
mia.lamar@dowjones.com