Capital One: US Credit-Card Delinquencies, Charge-Offs Fell In Feb

Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) said delinquencies and charge-offs at its U.S. credit-card business fell in February.

While charge-offs--loans banks don't expect to be able to collect--and delinquencies have continued to recover, the progress has been uneven.

The company's U.S. credit-card business saw 30-day delinquencies decline to 3.62% last month from 3.78% in January, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, internationally the rate increased to 5.25% from 5.19%. Auto-loan delinquencies dropped to 5.61% from 7.28%.

Charge-offs at its U.S. card business decreased to 3.84% in February from 4.08% a month earlier. Internationally, the rate was down at 5.43% from 5.64%. Auto-financing charge-offs were up at 1.29% from 2.17%.

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 Tuesday at $50.95 and were inactive in recent premarket trading. The stock is up roughly 20% this year.

-By Tess Stynes, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2481; [e-mail]