Continuing improvements in the credit card industry are apparent from recent reports from Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase.  According to Sandler O'Neill research, both companies reported a drastic fall in delinquency rates.

Both JPMorgan and Citigroup had the biggest fall offs in thirty day delinquencies in the group.  Citigroup's delinquencies fell by eight basis points while JPMorgan declined by nine basis points.

Analyst at Sandler O'Neill, Michael Taiano noted, "Delinquency rates declined despite a seasonal decline in loan balances. On a dollar basis, 30 plus day delinquencies declined 6% versus the prior month."

Charge off rates was also lower in January.  JPMorgan reported a drop in charge-offs by 102 basis while Citigroup a decline of 85 basis points.  American Express and Bank of America both recorded drops of 44 and 11 basis points respectively. 

Although credit card loan growth has decreased five percent since December, Taiano speculates that 2011 should bring some modest single digit growth. 

He noted, "Keep in mind yield is highly seasonal and can be heavily influenced by the number of collection days, pricing and fee changes, and things such as transaction volume, which drives higher interchange revenue in December."