Citigroup's Card Delinquencies Rise: Will it Impact Asset Quality?

In a recent SEC filing, Citigroup Inc.’s C subsidiary, Citibank N.A., disclosed a rise in its credit card trust delinquency rates for July 2025 from June 2025. Nonetheless, both metrics remained under their pre-pandemic levels despite the recent uptick. 

For the period ending July 2025, the Citibank Credit Card Issuance Trust posted a delinquency rate of 1.42%, up modestly from 1.38% in June. Encouragingly, the figure remains below the 1.53% level seen in July 2019, before COVID-19 disruptions. Meanwhile, the trust’s net charge-off rate eased to 2.07% in July from 2.12% in June, considerably lower than the 2.91% recorded in July 2019. Lending activity within Citibank’s credit card trust showed some softness. Principal receivables in the trust decreased to $20.7 billion by the end of the period (July 2025) from $20.9 billion the previous month.

The company’s net credit loss (NCL) witnessed a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.3% over the past four years ended in 2024. In the first half of 2025, NCL rose 2% year over year. Also, the company’s provisions saw a CAGR of 38.9% from 2022 to 2024, with the rising trend persisting in the first half of 2025. 

Looking ahead, Citigroup’s profitability may face headwinds from the continued rise in credit losses in its Branded Cards portfolio, wherein NCL rates are projected between 3.50% and 4% in 2025. At the end of 2024, branded cards NCL rates were 3.55%. Should economic conditions weaken further, losses may accelerate, prompting higher loan-loss provisions and pressuring earnings.

With interest rates expected to stay elevated for longer, borrowers’ repayment capacity will remain under strain. Coupled with the lingering effects of quantitative tightening, these dynamics suggest that Citigroup’s asset quality is likely to remain under pressure in the near term.

How Citigroup Stacks Up Against Peers in Card Delinquency

U.S. credit card metrics were mixed in July, with delinquencies rising and net charge-offs falling. Following the industrywide trend, Capital One Financial COF and JPMorgan JPM credit card delinquency rates also increased, while net charge-off fell.

Capital One's delinquency rate rose to 3.67% in July 2025 from 3.60% in June, while Capital One's net charge-off rate of 4.83% declined from 4.96% in the prior month.

JPMorgan Issuance Trust delinquency rate ticked up to 0.86% in July from 0.84% in June. JPMorgan's net charge-off rate of 1.54% dropped from 1.69% in June and 2.21% six years ago.

C’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of Citigroup have gained 36.6% year to date compared with the industry’s growth of 23.2%.

Price Performance

From a valuation standpoint, C trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 10.57X, below the industry’s average of 14.47X.

Price-to-Earnings F12M

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for C’s 2025 and 2026 earnings implies year-over-year rallies of 27.4% and 27.7%, respectively. The estimates for 2025 and 2026 have been revised upward over the past 60 days.

Estimates Revision Trend

Citigroup currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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