Things are looking up for South Florida. A report released by Standard and Poor's and Experian says Miami has seen a 40.3% drop in credit card delinquency write-offs over the past year. This shows lenders are dealing with fewer overdue payments and that people are making smarter decisions around the use of credit. Consumer behavior appears to be trending towards the payment of necessary bills and expenses, rather than frivolous spending.

Thought the report did call out Miami as a highlight, it was national in scope and mainly focused on September debt levels, trumpeting the month's many successful decreases. The report indicates September saw a 10.53% decrease in month over month write-offs, allowing current levels to settle in at 7.04%, over a 13% decrease compared to September 2009 write-offs. The report also mentioned that Los Angeles, a city notorious for living off credit, has taken an encouraging lead in reducing their volume of credit card defaults over the last two months. The city of angels boasted a 13.8% default rate decline in September. This could be due in part to successful debt consolidations through bankruptcy.

The report indicates declining credit card debt has not been the only national success to speak of, as notable reductions were experienced across the board. Though July and August saw national increases in defaults on car loans, September was successful in reversing that trend. Defaults on second mortgages saw the greatest improvement of all sectors nationwide, showing a 36.27% decrease since September 2009.

Source: Personal Finance Bulletin "Credit Card Debt on the Decline" by Philip Nix 10/21/10