Capital One Financial Corp , a leading issuer of MasterCard and Visa credit cards, reported a first-quarter loss on Tuesday, hurt by growing credit losses, and higher provisions for bad loans.

The McLean, Virginia-based company posted a quarterly loss available to common shareholders of $176.1 million, or 45 cents per share, compared with a net income of $548.5 million, or $1.47 cent per share, a year earlier.

In the U.S. card business, charge-offs -- debts the company believes it will never collect -- increased to 8.39 percent in the first-quarter from 7.08 percent in the fourth quarter.

Capital One set aside $124.1 million for loan losses, anticipating a further deterioration of its credit portfolio that is under pressure as unemployment rises.

Capital One's total managed revenue fell 18.6 percent to $3.7 billion.

Capital One's shares fell 6 percent to $14.15 in after-hours trading. The stock had closed up 12.48 percent to $15.05 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company's shares have dropped about 52 percent this year, more than the 25 percent decline in the KBW Bank Index <.BKX>.

(Reporting by Juan Lagorio, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

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