Fitch Ratings announced this week that credit card defaults in July dropped to 9.65 percent, the lowest rate in 15 months. Late-payment figures for all major credit card companies also showed a notable improvement between June and July.

The Associated Press reports that while Americans seem to be paying down their debt to improve their credit scores, the charge-off rate — the amount of debt that banks write off because they consider it uncollectable — is more than 60 percent above the historical average of 5.88 percent. Banks typically write off accounts that are more than 180 days late.

“The trends are encouraging, but card defaults are still elevated historically and are expected to remain so,” Fitch managing director Michael Dean told the AP. “Unemployment will continue to weigh on consumer credit quality throughout the rest of this year and well into 2011.”

Payments that were 60 or more days late fell to 3.76 percent in July from 3.86 percent in June, the AP notes. Analysts say that consumers have shifted their focus to rebuilding their savings and paying down debt.

Tags: consumer debt