Delinquency trends split in Q3 2026: overdue balances eased, but borrower-level late-payment measures rose for bankcards and unsecured personal loans as lower-scoring consumers took a larger share of lending, TransUnion said.
In its Q3 2026 Credit Industry Insights Report, released Nov. 5, TransUnion said consumers with VantageScore 4.0 scores of 660 or lower represented 42.3% of bankcard originations and 69% of unsecured personal-loan originations. The company classifies this group as below prime. Because the report presents origination data one quarter in arrears, those shares describe Q2 2026 lending.
For bankcards, the share of balances at least 90 days past due fell 0.06 percentage point year over year to 1.99%. The share of borrowers at least 90 days delinquent moved in the opposite direction, rising 0.13 point to 2.50% from 2.37%.
Personal-loan measures also diverged. Balances at least 60 days past due declined 0.06 point to 1.95% from 2.01%, while the share of borrowers at least 60 days delinquent climbed 0.60 point to 4.12% from 3.52%. Balance-level measures track overdue debt; borrower-level measures track people with late payments.
Jason Laky, TransUnion’s executive vice president and head of financial services, said lenders managed below-prime exposure through smaller credit lines and loan amounts, as well as adjustments to interest rates. The report describes below-prime consumers as a growth opportunity for lenders, while Laky’s comments outline measures they used to manage risk.
Credit-card charge-offs were $15.76 billion in Q3, down from $15.79 billion a year earlier. Unsecured personal-loan charge-offs fell 11% to $3.5 billion, even as the number of charged-off accounts increased, TransUnion said.
Across the U.S. market, outstanding credit balances grew about 3% year over year and credit-active consumers totaled 263 million. TransUnion also said the pattern of credit growth among both super-prime and below-prime consumers, which had emerged in recent years, has largely stabilized.
