Credit card default rates show that recovery is slowing

A new study shows bank-issued credit card delinquency rates dropping, but the sluggish pace of improvement points to a still-struggling economy and an elusive recovery. According to the American Bankers Association's Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin for the second quarter, delinquencies on bank cards were 3.62%, an improvement over the previous quarter, when the rate was 3.88%.

While this is a marked improvement over last year, when bank card delinquency rates edged up to 5.0% in the second quarter, we're not out of the woods just yet. Keith Leggett, senior economist and vice president at the American Bankers Association, tells WalletPop this data shows that persistently high unemployment is acting as a brake on economic recovery.