Why Are Small-Bank Credit Card Delinquencies Up? – Mother Jones

Banking News
Posted on

Our friends at the St. Louis Fed present us with a mystery this week:

In the third quarter of 2017, small banks saw a huge surge in credit card delinquency rates. Nor was this just a weird spike: delinquencies have stayed high ever since. Meanwhile, big banks have seen no change at all. What’s going on?

The St. Louis Fed folks don’t know. I don’t know either. But something sure seems to have happened in the summer of 2017. Anyone have any guesses?

WE NEED YOUR HELP.

December is our most important fundraising month, and—being Mother Jones, we’ll level with you—we’re well behind where we need to be to hit our big $600,000 budget. If you value our journalism, please help us close the gap with a year-end gift today—$5 or $500, it all makes a difference.

Since our start as a nonprofit in 1976, reader support has always been the spine that kept Mother Jones strong. It means everything to us. We can go after stories that advertising revenue would never pay for. We don’t have to worry about risk-averse corporations holding us back or answer to profit-driven owners. But we do need to earn the support of some 250,000 readers like you, one at a time, to fund our journalism and keep it free for everyone.

Heading into 2020, it’s never been more important to have truly independent journalism that reports the truth without fear, favor, or false equivalency (more on that here), and we hope you’ll help us close our fundraising gap with a year-end donation today.

WE NEED YOUR HELP.

December is our most important fundraising month, and—being Mother Jones, we’ll level with you—we’re well behind where we need to be to hit our big $600,000 budget. If you value our journalism, please help us close the gap with a year-end gift today—$5 or $500, it all makes a difference.

Heading into 2020, it’s never been more important to have truly independent journalism that reports the truth without fear, favor, or false equivalency (more on that here), and we hope you’ll help us close our fundraising gap with a year-end donation today.