Mortgage Delinquencies Hit a New High

Mar 1st, 2010 @ 3:31 PM by Debbie Dragon

While the economy is showing few signs of recovery and the national unemployment rate is staying steady at around ten percent, more and more people are struggling every day to make ends meet. Each month the number of homeowners across the country who must make the decision to purchase food for their family or to make their mortgage payment rises. New data shows that more homeowners than ever before are at risk of foreclosure.

Once again, TransUnion, one of the national credit data providers, is reporting a rise in the number of homeowners who are at least 60 days behind on their mortgage payments. For 12 straight quarters the number has risen, with the last quarter of 2009 hitting a new all-time high. 6.89 percent of all homeowners are now at least 60 days behind on their mortgage payment. This number is up from 6.25 percent from the third quarter of 2009 and up from 4.58 percent for the same quarter last year.

The continual rise in these numbers can be blamed mostly on unemployment rates, but also on a collapse in home sales and home values across the country. The tumbling housing market has certainly played a role in the collapse of the economy which is struggling to recover. Government programs have done little to help struggling homeowners, but some lucky mortgage holders have been able to refinance into more manageable programs.

TransUnion gets its data by randomly sampling 27 million anonymous records of individuals that are listed in their National Credit Data Base. The same sampling showed that not only did the numbers rise in mortgage delinquencies but also in late credit card payments. Credit card customers during the fourth quarter of last year who were at least 3 months late on making a payment rose to 1.21 percent.