Credit card companies had an increase in the percent of charge-offs that they wrote in January, rising to 11.5 percent, but number of delinquencies that are one to three months behind declined to 5.96 percent.

The figures, reported by Moody’s Credit Card Indices, mark the third month of decline in early stage delinquencies, indicating possible improvement in the economic climate.

“The improvement in the early-stage delinquency rate was contrary to seasonal patterns that typically lean toward rising early stage delinquencies this time of year,” said William Black, senior vice president at Moody’s, in an interview with Reuters.  “This month marks the first January since 2004 where early-stage delinquencies declined from the prior December, an improvement that is an encouraging indication of stability or improvement in charge-off rates by mid-year.”

Moody’s said it expects the charge-off rate to hit a high of 12 percent before starting to decrease.

Recent studies have shown that Americans on average owe $8,000 in credit card debt, but the Federal Trade Commission has said that number is decreasing, reporting that U.S. revolving debt declined by 9.5 percent in 2009.