Capital One credit card defaults lower

* Credit card charge-offs fall to 9.32 pct

* Credit card delinquencies rise to 5.09 pct

* More credit card firms expected to report default data

NEW YORK, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Capital One Financial Corp's (COF.N) U.S. credit-card defaults fell in August, adding to signs that American consumers' financial health may not be as bad 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.

Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), American Express Co (AXP.N) and Discover Financial Services (DFS.N) are expected to report the August performance of their credit card portfolios later on Tuesday.

Credit card defaults usually track unemployment, which rose to a 26-year high of 9.7 percent in August. The jobless rate is expected to peak at more than 10 percent by year-end.

Considering the trend of unemployment and the increase in delinquencies, analysts have estimated credit card losses could rise in coming months.

Still, they expect credit-card defaults to average between 11 percent and 12 percent, below early estimates of up to 14 percent.

The lower-than-anticipated losses could help the credit card industry to be profitable again sooner than expected. In recent weeks, many analysts have increased their earnings estimates for the industry.

Optimism on credit card companies increased last month when American Express reported a steep decline in credit card losses and estimated lower-than-expected defaults by the end of the year.

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 and John Wallace)