As the rate of serious delinquency on consumer credit dropped to a new low last month, the rate of past-due payments on first mortgages improved nicely.
Delinquency of at least 90 days on consumer credit
— including auto loans, bank cards and first- and second-lien mortgages — was 0.86 percent in April.
That was a significant improvement from a month previous, when the rate was 0.93 percent, and a year previous, when the rate came in at 0.97 percent.
Those findings were released Tuesday by S&P Dow Jones Indices and Experian as part of the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices.
“For two months, the overall consumer credit default rate has dropped to new lows,” David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, stated in the report.
With a 10-basis-point month-over-month decline, Los Angeles saw the biggest improvement in consumer delinquency among five of the largest metropolitan statistical areas. LA’s 0.71 percent rate was the lowest among the five MSAs.
Miami saw a 6-basis-point jump to 1.21 percent, the worst increase and highest rate among the five MSAs.
On just U.S. first
mortgages, the report indicated that the 90-day delinquency rate was 0.69 percent in the most-recent month.
First-mortgage delinquency declined 8 BPS from March and 14 BPS from April 2015.
Second-mortgage 90-day delinquency finished last month at 0.58 percent.
Serious delinquency on second liens slipped a basis point from a month earlier but worsened 15 BPS from a year earlier.
“The mortgage debt-service ratio — the percentage of disposable income going to service mortgage debt — is at its lowest point since 1980,” Blitzer added. “The total debt-service ratio, which includes loans with scheduled payments, is close to a record low.”
