NEW YORK - March 16, 2009 - Capital One Financial Corp, one of the largest issuers of MasterCard and Visa credit cards, said on Monday that credit card defaults rose in February in the United States as job losses accelerated and unemployment soared to a 25-year peak.

In a regulatory filing, the company said the annualized net charge-off rate - a measure of credit default - for U.S. credit cards rose to 8.06 percent in February from 7.82 percent in January, while the rate for loans at least 30 days delinquent increased to 5.10 percent from 5.02 percent.

In auto loans, Capital One's charge-off rate fell to 4.44 percent in February from 6.09 percent in January, while the delinquency rate declined to 7.52 percent from 9.18 percent.

In international operations, the charge-off rate rose to 7.20 percent in February from 6.10 percent in January, while the delinquency rate increased to 6.16 percent from 5.81 percent.