Late payments on credit cards drop

Consumers got more serious about paying down their credit card debt this summer, a time when deliquencies usually go up.

Cardholders making late payments on bank-issued cards like those bearing MasterCard and Visa logos fell to 1.1 percent for the July-to-September period, down from 1.17 percent in the prior three months, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion.

The decline is significant because of its timing. Delinquency rates usually rise in the third quarter from the prior period as people spend on summer vacations and back-to-school shopping, said Clifton O'Neal, a TransUnion spokesman. The latest quarter marks the first time in a decade the delinquency rate dropped in the third quarter from the preceding quarter, according to the TransUnion analysis.

Deliquencies, which are payments at least 90 days past due, are an indicator that cardholders will default on the debt.