NumBytes 50: Credit Card Holders Pay Up

Credit reporting agency TransUnion reported the national credit card delinquency rate, which measures payments that are 90 days or more past due, was 0.6% at the end of the second quarter 2011, a drop of 19% from the first quarter and a 17-year low.

Part of this comes from charge-offs reducing the amount of delinquent credit. Credit card companies typically write off balances as uncollectible when they're six months past due. While the default rate has declined in recent months, credit card issuers wrote off billions in debts since the start of the recession, according to USA Today.

The New York Federal Reserve noted that consumer debt fell $50 billion in the second quarter 2011 to $11.4 trillion, of which consumers' non-real estate debt dropped by $10 billion (0.4%) to $2.28 trillion, 9.5% below its fourth quarter 2008 peak.

Of note: open credit card accounts jumped by 10 million, to 389 million, in the second quarter, and credit card limits increased for the second consecutive quarter by 2%, or about $60 billion.

The Fed is taking the long view, asserting that the next few quarters will offer a better understanding of whether this is a permanent or temporary reduction in total outstanding consumer debt.

Retailers may have to take a shorter view -- like what's going to happen with the upcoming holiday season 2011. All this summer saving may end up priming the fourth quarter holiday spending pump.