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News: Credit Card Limits Up, Up and Away - Credit-Land.com

Credit card limits had an upswing during the first six months of this year, according to a new study by Experian, with credit card limits in both the subprime and deep subprime credit range equaling $6.4 billion – the largest amount in the past five years.

But what about delinquencies? While there has been a slight uptick in delinquencies, overall the newest Experian Market Intelligence Brief also found that when comparing rates from the start of the economic recovery and now, delinquency rates for both the subprime and deep subprime consumers have gone down by 6%. These rates specifically apply to people who are 60 days or more late with payments.

Having a handle on credit cards

These trends come together to signal that consumers are able to pay their credit card bills and when comparing the data from 2011 to 2016, delinquencies have dropped by a total of 43%.

"Consumer credit card behavior improved since exiting the recession as evidenced by the growth of credit card limits in particular among the subprime credit card market," said Kelly Kent, vice president of Experian Decision Analytics. "Yet, even with the solid improvements, the year-over-year figures indicate a slight increase in delinquency rates."

State-by-state delinquencies down

The study also looked at how the states were doing, finding that 32 have seen their rates of delinquencies go down – and go down by double digits since 201 with Washington, California, and Oregon taking the lead, with New Hampshire and Hawaii right behind them.

When taking a look at the year-over-year comparisons, the data from 2016 illustrated that Maine, Alabama, Washington and New Hampshire all saw a change of state in their 60+ data delinquency rates. Yet when you compare the second quarter data form 2016 with the first quarter, 49 states improved in this area, with the top ten states being: Washington, California, Oregon, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Florida, Nevada, Maine, Utah and Wisconsin.

Experian is a global information services company well known for providing credit reports and scores to consumers and businesses. They also provide businesses with a wide range of services including managing credit risk and preventing fraud.