Smart Borrower Blog

Archive for November, 2011

Home Prices Dip in September

Home prices across the nation fell in September, after posting gains during the spring and summer, according to the latest reading of the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index. Prices fell 0.6 percent from September to October, and 3.6 percent from the previous year. Out of the 20 cities tracked by the index, prices dipped in 17, breaking the five month streak where at least half of the cities showed monthly increases. “The plunging collapse of prices seen in 2007 to 2009 seems to be behind us,” says David Blitzer, chairman of the S&P index committee, as quoted in a USA Today... more »

Auto Delinquencies Post Slight Seasonal Rise

There were more auto loan borrowers behind on their payments during the third quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter, but the small uptick is nothing to worry about, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion. The percent of customers who were late by 60 days or more on their car payments rose to 0.47 percent between June and September, up from 0.44 percent in the second quarter. The new rate is still part of a downward trend, as it is down from 0.58 percent one year ago. TransUnion reports that auto delinquencies typically rise in the third quarter... more »

Lawmakers Plan to Raise FHA Loan Limits Again

Congressional and senate lawmakers are seeking to raise FHA mortgage loan limits. Originally, FHA loan limits were raised during the housing crisis in 2009. As private lenders high-tailed it out of the market and government-backed agencies were left to pick up the mortgage lending slack, loan limits for loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were temporarily raised as well. In New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, where home prices were above the $625,000 loan limits, Congress temporarily raised the loan imits to $729,750 due to the expensiveness of an area. This raise aimed to help people who... more »

Consumer Borrowing Makes Surprising Jump

Consumer credit borrowing in the U.S. increased substantially in September from the previous month, spurred on by rises in student and auto loans. Borrowing rose by $7.39 billion to a total of $2.542 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve. This was a particularly surprising increase after consumer credit fell $9.68 billion August, and analysts only predicted a growth of $4 billion for September. The increase was apparently led by a jump in borrowing for items like cars and tuition. Non-revolving credit, which includes both those types of loans rose $8.01 billion in September to a total of $1.662 trillion. Revolving... more »

Small Business Borrowing Slows in September, But Stronger Overall

Matters in the small business arena may not be back to “good” yet, but there are signs of progress, according to recent data on small business loans. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, a measure of total U.S. small business financing volume, rose 14 percent in September, a more modest pace than the revised 18 percent growth from August. The silver lining is that it still marks the 14th consecutive month of double-digit increases in borrowing among smaller firms. PayNet has tracked small business borrowing for years, and found that the volume of loans shrunk dramatically during 2008 and... more »