Capital One: US Credit Card Delinquencies Down In March

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; [e-mail]