Citibank Sees Credit Card Charge Offs, Delinquency Rates Spike

Citigroup reported that its July credit-card delinquency rate increased to 2.91 percent in July, up from 2.56 percent in June.

The lender’s three-month average is 1.54 percent, with a net charge-off rate of 2.91 percent, an increase from 2.56 percent in June, reported Seeking Alpha. The three-month average is 2.74 percent. According to the SEC paperwork, the total delinquency amount in July stood at $36,401,205,805.

In June, the company reported that the delinquency rate had improved from 1.57 percent in May, with the June net charge-off of 2.56 percent improving from 2.74 percent in May.

Also in June, Citi announced a new feature that allows qualifying cardmembers to shop and receive real-time alerts to redeem their ThankYou Points for eligible purchases. The new Pay With Points feature allows Citi Prestige, Citi Premier, Citi Rewards+ and Citi ThankYou Preferred cardmembers to redeem their ThankYou Points immediately for everyday purchases.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Mastercard to be the first major issuer to enable U.S. cardmembers to apply their points in real time when shopping and dining,” Mary Hines, head of customer engagement and innovation, Citi Branded Cards, said at the time. “This unique offering is the latest in our journey to continuously offer the most convenient points redemption options for our valued ThankYou cardmembers.”

The launch followed other recent enhancements to Citi’s ThankYou Rewards Program, such as the addition of numerous Points Transfer partners, including Avianca LifeMiles and JetBlue TrueBlue, and new Shop With Points merchants, including Best Buy, Expedia and Amazon.

Citigroup also teamed up with Grab, the ride-hailing startup out of Singapore, to roll out co-branded credit cards. The goal is to aim is to boost Citigroup’s customer base in Singapore by around 13 percent by engaging in partnerships with digital companies. In May Citigroup launched a co-branded credit card with Paytm, the Indian digital payments company and with Qantas a couple of years back.