The delinquency ratio fell to 0.44% at the end of December, the Monetary Authority says, the lowest figure since the start of its credit card lending survey in 1996.

In the fourth quater, the amount of rescheduled receivables fell to $70 million or 0.12% of total receivables, from $73 million or 0.14% in the previous quarter. Together, the delinquent and rescheduled ratio fell further to 0.55% at December's end from 0.68% at September's end.

Declining trend

The charge-off amount continued its declining trend in the fourth quarter, falling to $530 million or 0.94% of average receivables, from $610 million or 1.13% in the previous quarter.

The annualised ratio further fell from 4.51% to 3.76%, the lowest level since the second quarter of 2001.

Total credit card accounts rose 1.7%. Despite the transfer of $96.4 million in rescheduled receivables (0.2% of average receivables) outside the credit card portfolio during the quarter, total receivables rose 9.2% (or $5 billion), having risen 1% in the third quarter.

The rollover amount, which reflects the amount of borrowing by customers using their credit cards, fell to $24.4 billion from $25 billion as at September's end.