Banks' Credit Card Write-Offs Rise 35.6%

Credit card loans written off by commercial banks jumped 35.6% to $3.9 billion in the three months ended in September as credit quality problems grew.

The surge in write-offs, compared with the third quarter of 2001, came as banks earned $23.4 billion, only $11 million short of the record set in the second quarter of this year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported.

The third-quarter profits were up 34.8% from the July-September period last year. Still, they were held back by sharply lower income from banks' international operations and by higher expenses for loan losses, the FDIC said.