First quarter credit card receivables down 4.4%

Yet the amount of borrowing by customers using their credit cards up 0.2% at the end of March.

Total card receivables fell 4.4% to $83.7 billion in the year’s first quarter, after a 12% rise in last year’s fourth quarter.

The Monetary Authority said on Monday the decrease was largely due to the receding effect of festive spending and the payment of salaries tax using credit cards.

The total number of credit card accounts grew 2.5% to 14.1 million.

The rollover amount, which reflects the amount of borrowing by customers using their credit cards, rose 0.2% at the end of March, said a Moneraty Authority report.

The charge-off amount increased 2.8% in this year’s first quarter to $333 million. The quarterly annualised charge-off ratio remained relatively stable at 1.55% compared with 1.56% in the previous quarter.

The amount of rescheduled receivables transferred outside the surveyed institutions' credit card portfolios fell to $88 million from $104 million in the previous quarter.

The delinquent amount fell to $162 million at end-March from $173 million at end-December. Correspondingly, the delinquency ratio dropped to 0.19% from 0.20%.

The combined delinquent and rescheduled ratio, after taking into account the transfer of rescheduled receivables, remained at 0.28%.