The trend has been that people are using bailouts, stimulation, and low interest loan consolidation to pay down high interest credit accounts since the pandemic started. I worked in underwriting for a few years, into the pandemic. The FICO scores have been steadily climbing ever since the beginning of the pandemic, and even years before, despite the fact that consumer behavir was not changed. It's only my hypothesis of whats going on. Thankfully I don't work with credit anymore. I think this jives with your statement, but doesn't mean the article is meaningless overall.