S&P said the losses among bankcard trusts in its U.S. Credit Card Quality Index reached a record 10 percent for the month, as unemployment continued to rise, making it difficult for consumers to pay down credit card debt. That was a 66.8 percent increase from May 2008. Bankcards generally carry the logos of MasterCard, Visa or American Express.
The year-over-year increase in May was slightly below the 70.9 percent jump in unemployment during the period. But the expansion of losses among the trusts over the past six months outpaced unemployment growth by 49.3 percent to 38.2 percent, S&P said.
Losses on U.S. retail cards, which include gas and department store cards, jumped to 12.2 percent, the highest point since S&P began tracking the statistic in January 2000.
S&P expects card losses to average between 10.5 and 12.5 percent for the next 12 to 18 months.
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