Capital One delinquencies increased in September

Credit card issuers Capital One reported an uptick in credit card delinquencies last month, despite a continued decline in charge-offs, offering a mixed depiction of the state of consumer health and activity. September net charge-offs dropped to 3.9 percent at Capital One's U.S. branch, down from 4.1 percent the month before. Internationally, the Securities and Exchange Commission reported a drop from 6.21 percent to 5.65 percent, while auto-finance charge-offs fell to 1.34 percent from 1.94 percent. "Capital One, which transformed itself from a credit card lender to a bank just before the financial crisis hit, has lately benefited from improving credit quality," reports Dow Jones Newswires. "In July, the company reported its second-quarter earnings rose 50 percent, beating analysts' estimates, as it booked lower loan loss provisions and saw a decline in net charge-offs." Wider consumer credit has been slowly showing signs of improvement in recent months. Earlier this month, the U.S. Federal Reserve reported a $9.5 billion decrease in consumer credit in August, following a $11.9 billion surge the month before.