"The improvement in credit card late payments is somewhat remarkable, given that the economy was not operating on all cylinders," Chessen said.
Still a lot of not so good news.
Late payments on home equity loans climbed to a 1 1/2-year high in the opening quarter of this year, while delinquencies on credit card bills fell, painting a mixed picture of how people are managing their debt.
...
"There are still signs of consumer financial distress, which will continue throughout most of this year as the worst of the housing problem works its way through the economy," said James Chessen, the association's chief economist.
...
The survey also showed that the delinquency rate on a composite of other types of consumer loans, including those for autos and boats, home improvement and for certain home equity loans, increased to 2.42 percent in the first quarter.
Putting on my pinhead hat, I'd say there's actually a lot of really bad news here. People are paying their CCs ontime, which could mean they are simply staving off defaulting on them while defaulting on homes and cars.
Sadly this ain't the MyFico Effect.
