Delinquent debt payments are still mostly higher than they were a year ago, but are trending in the right direction for now. As recently reported in the Wall Street Journal, VantageScore’s April 2024 CreditGauge analysis showed the percentage of overall outstanding balances of consumer debt—encompassing auto, card, home and personal loans—that was 30 to 59 days past due fell to 0.86% in April, down from the recent peak of 1.04% in February.

Delinquencies started to climb in 2023, and in some categories moved above where they were just before the Covid-19 pandemic. That fueled concern that the U.S. economy could soon hit the skids, with consumers finally spending through the cushions they had built up during the pandemic.

Right now, though, those delinquencies are steadily falling. The latest monthly data from CreditGauge showed the percentage of overall outstanding balances of consumer debt—encompassing auto, card, home and personal loans—that was 30 to 59 days past due fell to 0.86% in April, down from the recent peak of 1.04% in February.

Read more here: WSJ