Credit card delinquencies and chargeoffs at credit unions remained near all-time highs, even as the average balance on card accounts continued to grow in the first quarter, according to AssetExchange, a card broker for credit unions.

With more than $600 billion of bad loans, foreclosed properties and other assets from failed banks, federal regulators are counting on the private sector to help sell the loans rather than doing so independently.

Just two of the 2,100 credit unions with credit card receivables of $1 million or more sold their portfolios during the first three months of this year, according to TRK Advisors, a card-portfolio consulting firm.

U.S. Bancorp has purchased grocery retailer Kroger Co.’s credit card portfolio from a Royal Bank of Scotland Group subsidiary.

Aditya Birla Minacs, a global business services and call center operator, has acquired U.S.-based Bureau of Collections Recovery (BCR), an accounts receivables management firm that operates collection services for the credit industry. Financial terms of the deal, announced last week, were not revealed.

U.S. credit card charge-off rates that began rising in the fall of 2008 likely hit their peak during the first quarter of this year and are beginning a march back to lower levels, Moody’s Investors Service announced today.

Flock Advisors, a mergers-and-acquisitions advisory firm, announces a successful senior debt raise for Velocity Portfolio Group LLC, a debt buyer focused on a "legal first" strategy.

The Maryland State Collection Agency Licensing Board (CALB) released an advisory notice this month clarifying licensing requirements for debt purchasers that collect debt through civil litigation, according to ACA International, the association that represents collection agencies.

Rebounding car sales are offering banks a rare chance to expand lending in a business line that many of them fled just before the economy collapsed.

Determined to improve earnings on sales of bad debt, many credit issuers and consumer lenders are holding back the amount of chargeoffs placed for sale. The strategy is working as prices have inched up since late 2009.

Debt buyer Sherman Financial Group has re-purchased the last remaining outstanding stake in the firm from mortgage insurer Radian Group, according to an announcement today from Radian.

Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. reported cash collections of $89.2 million in the first quarter ended March 31, versus cash collections of $94.1 million in the year-ago period.

Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc., a Norfolk, Va. debt buyer, reported a quarterly profit above Wall Street expectations as cash collections rose 33%. The company attributed the gain to a shift in its collection mix to bankrupt accounts, and seasonal strength in the quarter.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. plans to accept bids on a $1.97 billion portfolio of loans from 22 seized banks, pushing the agency’s structured asset sales this year beyond the full-year 2009 total.

Citing modest improvements in its recession-battered card portfolio, JPMorgan Chase & Co. this week reported a $303 million loss within its Card Services unit for the first quarter ended March 31; it reported a $547 million net loss during the same period last year.

The U.S. House of Representatives this morning passed H.R. 3506 by voice vote, a move ACA International has supported to eliminate unnecessary paperwork requirements under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA).

Late payments for most classes of consumer loans dropped in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, the second consecutive quarterly decline, according to a survey by the American Bankers Association.

United Community Banks Inc. has agreed to sell $100 million of nonperforming loans to an asset manager in order to rid illiquid assets and create capital as the bank continues to suffer from a credit crunch, reports Dow Jones.