Credit card chargeoffs rose in November, to 6.73% of outstandings from 6.61% in October, according to Standard & Poor's Corp.
The ratings agency, which tracks the performance of $230 billion of securitized receivables, said the November results were mixed: Chargeoffs increased at half the banks monitored and decreased at the other half.
Alison Emmerich, a Standard & Poor's analyst, said issuers typically reported "a lessening of bankruptcy-related losses in October, and they picked up in November."
Recent monthly fluctuations in chargeoff rates have been small but ominous, Ms. Emmerich said.
"It's relatively stable-but it's not getting better anymore."
Citicorp, the largest card issuer, had chargeoffs exceeding 6% in November, and the portfolio it agreed to acquire last week, AT&T Universal Card Services, came in at less than 5%, Ms. Emmerich said.
- Jennifer Kingson Bloom