Smart Borrower Blog

Archive for May, 2019

Mortgage Delinquencies Grow in First Quarter, Still Near Record Lows

Americans fell behind on their mortgage loans at a slightly higher rate in the first quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, but rates remained near all-time lows. The delinquency rate climbed to 4.42% in the first quarter of 2019, up from the 18-year low of 4.06% in the previous quarter, but still down from […]

Auto Lenders Take on More Subprime Borrowers

While the majority of car loan borrowers continue to have high credit scores, lenders have increased their loans to subprime borrowers over the past year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The New York Fed’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for the 2019 first quarter found that those with credit […]

Mortgage Originations Tumble to 5-Year Lows

Even though mortgage interest rates have remained near record lows, total new mortgage originations fell to a 5-year low during the first quarter of 2019, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Total originations dropped $60 billion from the previous quarter to $344 billion, the lowest level since the third quarter […]

25% of Debtors Benefit from a Personal Loan

A new study from TransUnion found that one in four people who take out a small personal loan after falling behind in their other debts are able to catch up and get current on all payments within a year. Of course, the flip side to that statistic is that the majority – 75% – of […]

99% of Student Loan Forgiveness Applicants Denied

Less than 1% of borrowers nationwide have been able to take advantage of federal public service loan forgiveness, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Education. As of the end of 2018, there have been 65,500 loan forgiveness applications filed by those with outstanding student debt. The Education Department has processed 58,000, so […]