Last month was the second consecutive month that 30-day delinquency on home loans was higher. The deterioration comes as the amount of outstanding mortgages continues to erode.
Mortgage delinquency of at least one month inched higher in September to 6.65 percent. It was the second month in a row that the rate deteriorated and the highest rate of late payments during the past six months.
The statistics were reported in the CreditForecast.com Household Credit Report from Moody’s Analytics and Equifax.
In August, the delinquency rate was 6.62 percent.
The report indicated that mortgage delinquency remains high despite that mortgage balances are steadily falling.
Outstanding real estate loans were 3.6 percent lower in September than a year earlier and have fallen at least 3.0 percent on a year-over-year basis each month this year. The report indicated that balance declines accelerated last month primarily due to “a faster decline in mortgage balances.”
“By contrast, non-mortgage balances have been rising in recent months, despite the restraint from weakened auto sales, and delinquencies, especially early-stage delinquencies, are very low,” CreditForecast.com stated. “Credit is becoming more available outside of mortgages; in that market, the reduction in limits for loans involving government-sponsored entities declined in October, undermining availability further.”
CreditForecast.com said that 0.21 percent of mortgage balances were terminated through default or bankruptcy in September. That was lower than most other months this year.
Delinquency on all types of credit — including automobile loans, bank cards and mortgages — inched up to 6.22 percent from 6.20 percent in August.
