CINCINNATI — Car lease credit applicants registered a 72.2% approval rate in February, a 33.3% increase from January’s 50% approval rate but flat with a year ago, according to Swapalease.com.

The car lease marketplace noted that the last time approval rates reached that high was October 2015, when the lease credit approval rate was 75%. It added that the rise in approvals occurred during a month when the pace of new lease originations slowed.

Citing an Automotive News report, the company said lease activity on new vehicles was 29.7 percent, down from 33.2 percent in the year-earlier month.

“We’ve had a string of down months lately, but with the volatility in lease credit approvals currently, it was expected that we would see a bounce back in higher approvals,” said Scot Hall, executive vice president of Swapalease.com. “We do not believe there is anything special about February lease applicants, but it is interesting to know February also saw a high approval rate a year ago.”