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(Continued from page 20)
• The slow-growth economy, rising home values and a high-flying stock market have helped boost consumer confidence this year, but many Americans remain cautious with their credit.
• "The data supports that consumers will continue to prioritize their credit card relationships over other credit obligations, and delinquencies should remain low into the near future," said Ezra Becker, vice president of research and consulting in TransUnion's financial services business unit.
• Average credit card debt per borrower slipped to $4,965 in the second quarter from $4,971 in the same period last year, TransUnion said. Card debt rose from $4,875 in the first quarter.
• Meanwhile, the number of new credit card accounts opened by consumers increased in the first three months of the year.
• The data lags by a quarter, so the latest TransUnion figures cover the January-March period. They show that the number of new credit card accounts rose 5.6 percent from the same period in 2012.
• The share of cards issued to borrowers with less-than-perfect credit was essentially flat at 27.3 percent versus 27.4 percent a year earlier. That's still well below the roughly 45 percent share of cards going to non-prime borrowers before the recession, however.
• In the VantageScore credit rating scale, consumers with a score lower than 700 on a scale of 501-990 are considered non-prime borrowers.
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AP News in Brief
Bulger verdict brings closure for some victims' families and eternal angst for others'
• BOSTON (AP) -- The guilty verdicts against James "Whitey" Bulger brought catharsis and closure to relatives of the 11 victims in whose killings he was convicted of playing a role, but for the families of the eight people whose deaths couldn't be definitively linked to the Boston mob boss, peace will be harder to come by.
• Steve Davis didn't wait for the jury to be dismissed before he walked out of the courtroom, appearing upset it had issued no finding in the 1981 strangulation of his sister Debra.
• Outside court, Davis said he doubted whether Bulger personally strangled his sister, as Bulger's former partner and his sister's boyfriend, Stephen Flemmi, testified. But he's certain Bulger was part of it, and the jury's inability to make a finding (Continued on page 22)
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