The share of folks falling behind on credit card and personal loan payments is increasing, several reports found, especially among the riskiest of borrowers.

The "delinquency transition rate" for credit cards—the share of credit card debt that is 30 days or more past due—increased by 0.6 percentage points during the first three months of the year, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report released Monday. That's approaching pre-pandemic levels.

That echoes last week’s first-quarter report from credit bureau TransUnion, which found that delinquency rates increased year over year on credit cards and unsecured personal loans.

The rise in missed payments is prompting lenders to pull back on their looser lending requirements. But, they’re keeping a common recession countermove, reducing credit limits, at bay for now.

“We have seen fairly material increases in delinquency rates, in decent part attributable to so many originations in the second half of 2021 into 2022 were to riskier borrowers in below prime risk tiers,” Charlie Wise, TransUnion’s senior vice president of research and consulting, told Yahoo Finance. “They have been true to their credit scores and have higher delinquency rates.”

Lending increased

Credit card balances stayed near or at record highs, according to various reports.TransUnion recorded nearly 20% year-over-year growth in credit card balances, while the NY Fed report put the annual increase at 18%. Both have total outstanding balances just below $1 trillion at the end of the first quarter.

Meanwhile, balances on unsecured personal loans hit a record high of $225 billion, according to TransUnion, up 26.3% from the same period last year.

Wise said the increase in balances in tandem with the rise in delinquencies could be a sign of trouble among those riskier consumers.

“With higher inflation and other pressures on their wallets and higher interest rates, that segment of consumers may be feeling some potential distress now,” he said.