Bank of America, the largest US credit card issuer, lost money on its card business in the third quarter as rising unemployment and falling house prices led more borrowers to miss payments.

The bank’s card services unit, which includes unsecured consumer loans as well as business and consumer credit cards, lost $373m in the third quarter, compared with a profit of $1.04bn in the third quarter of 2007. The loss is the bank’s first in the business since BofA bought rival card issuer MBNA in January 2006.