Credit Card defaults rise to record in May in The US

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. credit card defaults rose to record highs in May, with a steep deterioration of Bank of America Corp's lending portfolio, in another sign that consumers remain under severe stress.

Delinquency rates -- an indicator of future credit losses -- fell across the industry, but analysts said the decline was due to a seasonal trend, as consumers used tax refunds to pay back debts, and they expect delinquencies to go up again in coming months.

"I find it hard to believe that it is really a trend. You need to see stabilization in unemployment before you see anything else," said Chris Brendler, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. "It is too early to see some kind of improvement."

Bank of America Corp -- the largest U.S. bank -- said its default rate, those loans the company does not expect to be paid back, soared to 12.50 percent in May from 10.47 percent in April.

The bank is paying the price of expanding rapidly in recent years and of holding one of the highest concentrations of subprime borrowers among the top card issuers, analysts said.

In addition, American Express Co , which accounts for nearly a quarter of credit and charge card sales volume in the United States, said its default rate rose to 10.4 percent from 9.90, according to a regulatory filing based on the performance of credit card loans that were securitized.

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Visa Europe Faces Antitrust Complaint From Retailers

Visa Europe Ltd., operator of the largest payment-card network in the 27-nation European Union, faces a formal antitrust complaint from EuroCommerce, a group representing retailers.

A transaction fee paid by retailers, which is set by Visa and its member banks, breaks EU antitrust rules, EuroCommerce, whose members include Carrefour SA and Tesco Plc, said in an e- mailed statement today. The so-called interchange fee is paid by the retailer’s bank to the bank that issued the customer’s card.

“The Visa interchange fee procedure is completely unfair,” said Xavier Durieu, secretary general of EuroCommerce, in the statement. “Retailers are forced to pay for a range of services from which they do not benefit. Bank rates are the only services which retailers, even the largest ones, are not able to negotiate.”

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The Housing Market May Have Bottomed

the U.S. housing market May Have Bottomed , we are still at a low level but there some few positive signs deposit trends traffic agreement its the soft feel from sales , it feels that cancelation is going down , still a lot of pain to come to the housing market , still a lot of foreclosures still a lot of pricing pressure ...we are not going down but there is still a long way uphill towards a Recovery