ECONOMY

* Slightly more U.S. consumers were late in paying their credit card bills in the third quarter and their total amount of unpaid debt also rose, the American Bankers Assn. said. The number of credit card accounts that were at least 30 days overdue edged up to 3.35% of all accounts, from 3.33% in the previous quarter and 3.28% in the year-earlier period. The rate peaked at 3.72% in 1996. Based on the total dollar amount of outstanding credit card debt, delinquencies rose slightly to 4.25% from 4.10% in the prior quarter, but were still down from 4.63% a year ago.