Credit Card and Personal Loan Delinquencies Pull Down Russian Credit Health Index

Q2 data from FICO and the National Bureau of Credit Histories (NBKI), Russia’s leading credit bureau, shows that the rise in credit delinquencies is still continuing — but only on some products.

Overall, Russian borrowers’ delinquent credit repayments rose slightly in April 2013, continuing a steady climb that started more than a year ago. The country’s FICO® Credit Health Index — which measures the percentage of loans and cards that are delinquent by 60 days or more — dropped one point from last quarter, to 108 points.

All regions but one have shown a drop in credit health since January of last year, but the same can’t be said of credit products. While delinquencies rose on unsecured loans and credit cards in the last quarter, late payments on mortgages and auto loans are falling.

As my colleague Evgeni Shtemanetyan points out, we’re only seeing small increases in delinquency, but the trend isn’t good. Personal loans and credit cards are at the bottom of Russian borrowers’ payment hierarchy, which means they need extra scrutiny from risk managers.