NEW YORK -

As analysts offered some assessments of what moves the Federal Reserve might make, data through March generated by S&P Dow Jones Indices and Experian indicated auto loan default ticked lower on a sequential basis but edged up slightly year-over-year.

The auto loan reading for March came in at 1.03 percent, 3 basis points lower than February’s mark and mirroring what analysts spotted back in January. But the March figure ended up 4 basis points higher than what analysts noticed a year ago.

Overall, the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices, a comprehensive measure of changes in consumer credit defaults, continued to show a slight downward trend.

The March bank card default rate increased 15 basis points to 2.99 percent following an increase of 23 basis points in February, the largest two month increase since April 2010.

The composite index posted a reading of 1.05 percent in March, the first decline since last July.

The first mortgage default rate decreased for the second month in a row, dipping down by 8 basis points in March to 0.92 percent.

Analysts added that March’s second mortgage default rate decreased by 16 basis points to 0.50 percent.

“The increase in the bank card default rate over the last two months is the largest such jump in five years,” said David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “While bank card defaults spiked, default rates for first mortgages and autos were down in March and have shown no large increase since 2012.

“The New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations Credit Access Survey released in February shows consumers applying for, or expecting to apply for, increased credit limits on bank cards combined with a decline in the rejection rate on such requests,” Blitzer continued.

“The more generous credit limits may be one source of the rise in defaults. The pattern in auto loans is the reverse: there are reports of some lenders scaling back auto loans, and there is no significant shift in default rates,” he went on to say.

Moving on to the other material contained in the monthly update, S&P Dow Jones Indices and Experian determined the five major cities reported mixed results in March with two cities showing lower default rates.

Chicago reported a default rate of 1.15 percent, a decrease of 3 basis points. Dallas reported a decrease for the first time since last September 2014, settling 12 basis points lower to come in at 1.05 percent.

Miami’s March reading was 1.39 percent, rising 22 basis points from February’s mark of 1.17 percent.

New York posted its fourth consecutive increase with a reported rate of 1.20 percent, up 6 basis points.

Los Angeles also saw its default rate increase, up 6 basis points to 0.89 percent.

“Looking at the five cities tracked for the release, the only large move was an increase in Miami, which largely reversed the previous month’s decline,” Blitzer said.

“Across the country, the use of consumer and mortgage loan continued to expand,” he continued. “The mix of recent economic data suggests the economy is growing, but more slowly than at the end of 2014.

Moreover, the signs of moderation — retail sales and March's slower increase in payrolls — suggest that the Fed isn’t likely to raise interest rates until later in 2015 or 2016. This means that stable borrowing costs may lead to further expansion in consumer credit,” Blitzer went on to say.