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Why? Well the economy's slow rebound certainly has a lot to do with it, and as USA Today explains, better credit card offers point to the improved confidence of lenders.
And why shouldn't they be confident? The last handful of business quarters have reported a decline in credit card delinquency, though unfortunately no decline in overall credit card debt. The unemployment rate is down nationwide, and overall job growth is slow but more-or-less steady.
A number of analysts and credit card issuers are reporting a drop in credit card delinquency in February, 2013. Capital One reports that their 30-day delinquency rate for US cards dropped .04 percent to 3.68 percent in February (via Fox Business).
Meanwhile, the ratings agency Fitch Ratings reports that the delinquency rate on retail credit card accounts fell to 1.61 percent in February, the lowest it's been since 1991 (courtesy of LowCards.com).
According to one of the Big Three credit reporting agencies - TransUnion - credit card debt in the US fell 1.6% in Q4 of 2012 compared to the same quarter in 2011.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that credit card delinquencies were up to 0.85 percent - a .07 percent jump from the same quarter in 2011 and a tenth of a percentage point higher than 2012's Q3 from July-September.
Over a month ago, we told you that the Vatican was suddenly stripped of their ability to accept credit cards. The reason? Deutsche Bank of Italia - the Italian bank that handled credit card purchases at the Vatican for over a decade - was stripped of its authorization by the Bank of Italy after it was determined that Deutsche Bank of Italia never actually applied for the authorization.
On November 19, TransUnion reported that the average consumer's credit debt had grown nearly 5% from the same quarter last year, up to $4,996 per borrower. That same report also noted a small uptick in delinquent payments from quarter 3 of last year to 0.75%. On the surface, this all sounds pretty negative - more debt? More late payments? That can't be good...
Having the ability to save money both for the short term and for retirement, as well as being able to reduce their various outstanding debts, are some of the primary concerns for consumers, even as many feel they're on better financial ground than they were in the past, according to the latest Chase Pulse of the Consumer Survey.
The iPhone 5 was officially unveiled on September 12, but despite many experts' predictions that the handset would come equipped with near-field communications technology, this was not the case, according to a report from CNET.
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