Consumers who make partial or full payments on their bank credit cards are less likely to become delinquent than those who only pay the minimum on their account balances, a new report shows.
TransUnion LLC discloses this finding in a new study, "Minimum Payments vs. Actual payments: A Look at Debt Service Behaviors and Credit Capacity." Based on a random sample of 12 million mortgage consumers, 17 million card consumers and 22 million auto loan consumers, the study explores differences in delinquency as a function of payment status.
The report reveals the following delinquency rates among "transactors" (consumers who pay credit card account balances in full), partial payers and minimum payers:
| Card Payment Type | Sub prime | Near-prime | Prime | Prime Plus | Super Prime |
| Transactors | 5.8% | 1.78% | 0.38% | 0.06% | 0.02% |
| Partial Payers | 8.92% | 2.54% | 0.78% | 0.16% | 0.06% |
| Minimum Payers | 10.36% | 3.6% | 1.24% | 0.21% | 0.05% |
In its analysis, Transunion characterizes a transaction as a minimum payment if the credit card holder's actual payment is within three percent of the minimum payment due or within $5 of the MPD.
