While recent reports demonstrate that American citizens are working at paying down revolving debt, cleaning up their credit, and saving more money one financial area is proving to be more problematic. Delinquency and foreclosures continue to be an issue throughout the United States.
TransUnion has reported that the delinquency rate of home mortgages in the United States increased in the final quarter of 2009 heating the record high of 6.25 percent. This fourth quarter increase represents the 12th straight quarterly increase in the US.
All states showed in a fourth quarter increase in mortgage debt delinquency but Nevada leads the pack with a 16.9 percent increase, followed by Florida with a 14.93 percent increase. The states with the lowest delinquency rates are North Dakota with 1.84 percent, South Dakota with 2.46 percent and Alaska with 2.84 percent.
While the average amount of revolving debt among American consumers has been decreasing, the average amount of mortgage debt increased 0.29 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 which represents a 0.47 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2008. The average amount of mortgage debt in the last quarter of 2009 stood at $193, 690 as compared to $192,789 in the same quarter in 2008.
TransUnion forecasts that due to high unemployment, house pricing, and lack of consumer confidence will play a large part in continued increases in delinquency in 2010. The vice president of TransUnion’s financial services business unit, FJ Guarrera states “We believe that the 60-day mortgage delinquency rate will peak between 7.5 and 8 percent over the course of 2010, depending on the prevailing economic conditions associated with the housing market”.
