CHULA VISTA, Calif. — Chula Vista has been named the top city in the country where credit card delinquency rates have increased the most.
According to a new report by WalletHub, the number of people late on their credit card bills in Chula Vista has increased more than anywhere else in the country by nearly 85% compared to 2023, narrowly beating out Madison, Wisconsin, Garland, Texas and San Francisco.
Des Moines, Iowa is at the bottom of the 100 city list.
“It's a wild number to see on this sort of study," said Christie Matherne, an editor at WalletHub.
Matherne says while Chula Vista's delinquency rate rose the highest within a year, the city is not number one when it comes to how many credit card payments are actually late.
"17.5% of credit card trade lines are delinquent in Chula Vista. And that's actually not the highest rate of delinquency that we looked at. The highest we saw is 26% in Detroit," said Matherne.
Matherne says their research also shows people in Chula Vista added the sixth-most credit card debt over the past year, along with the second-highest overall balance. CBS 8 also reported in February that Chula Vista also had the most credit cards.
It's a sign people are struggling in this economy.
"It's likely that people in these cities are hurting from higher costs and possibly slow income growth. So, when you have both of those things going on, when your costs are higher, it's harder to save," said Matherne.
Credit card debt and delinquency can impact your credit score and make it more difficult to get approved for new credit in the future.
Matherne says you can avoid being delinquent by making a payment within a month of it being due.
"You're not technically delinquent until about 30 days later, and that's when your credit card company is going to start reporting your delinquency to credit bureaus. So that's at the point where it's going to start affecting your credit score. But, even if you're a day or a week late, you can still get penalized with late fees and penalty APRs, which are the things that make carrying debt more expensive."
Matherne also suggests if you're not often late, give your credit card company a call and see if they'll remove those extra fees.
Also, pay attention to annual percentage rates, which are on the rise.
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