NEW YORK - Capital One Financial Corp's U.S. credit-card defaults fell in August, reinforcing signs that, despite job losses and the housing crisis, American consumers may not be in as bad shape as feared.

In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Capital One said the annualized net charge-off rate -- debts the company believes it will never collect -- for U.S. credit cards fell to 9.32 percent in August from 9.83 percent in July.

However, accounts at least 30 days delinquent -- an indicator of future loan losses -- rose to 5.09 percent from 4.83 percent.

For U.S. auto loans, Capital One's charge-off rate rose to 4.31 percent in August from 4.26 percent in July, and the delinquency rate increased to 9.42 percent from 9.22 percent.

In international operations, including Canada and Britain, the charge-off rate fell to 8.60 percent in August from 9.76 percent in July, while the delinquency rate inched down to 6.67 percent from 6.68 percent. (Reporting by Juan Lagorio; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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