Credit card debt drops, but not everywhere

Credit card debt dropped across the United States, but some areas found it hard to resist swiping plastic, a private research group said.

Credit report company Equifax said credit card debt in Provo-Orem, Utah, rose 6.8 percent in the second quarter, leading the nation, USA Today reported Wednesday. Lars Lefgren, an associate economic professor at Brigham Young University, said the area includes young families trying to establish credit.

Nationally, customers are cutting back, though. For the United States as a whole, credit card balances dropped 3.28 percent in the second quarter, the newspaper reported.

But the credit picture isn’t always so upbeat. Many are increasing their borrowing to make ends meet, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com.

Rising unemployment and difficulty finding home equity loans have forced some to turn to credit cards. In areas where the collapsing housing bubble hit hard, such as Visalia-Porterville, Calif., and Reno, Nev., credit card balances have gone up.