Smart Borrower Blog

Archive for the ‘Mortgages’ Category

Mortgage Foreclosures and Delinquencies Fall in Latest Year

Mortgage borrowers did better at keeping up with their loan payments in the past year, according to new data from CoreLogic. They did so much better, in fact, that the rate of 30-day delinquencies dropped to its lowest level in almost 13 years. CoreLogic’s Loan Performance Insights report found that the percentage of home mortgage […]

Student Loan Defaults Could Reach 40% by 2023

U.S. student loan borrowers are defaulting at such a steep rate that on the current trajectory as many as 40% of all borrowers could be in default within the next five years, according to a report from the Urban Institute. Student loans now make up the second-largest consumer debt category. Today there are more than […]

Nervous Investors Push Mortgage Rates Down

Average rates on long-term mortgage loans fell in the latest week, dampened by investors’ flight to the safety of bonds after the recent stock market declines. According to mortgage guarantor Freddie Mac, the average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage (FRM) dropped to 4.83 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week of […]

1/3 of Americans Use Credit Cards for Home Renovations

Even though Americans now have more home equity collectively than ever before, very few are tapping into that equity to pay for their home renovations, with more than a third charging their home expenses to a credit card. According to a study conducted by web site Houzz and Synchrony Financial, 36.4% of all renovation purchases […]

Mortgage Rates Top 5%, Loan Applications Slip

As long-term U.S. mortgage interest rates rose to their highest level in over 7 years, fewer potential buyers and refinance borrowers applied for home loans this week, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The average rate on a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped to 5.05%, with 0.51 points, up from 4.96% and 0.49 […]

Homeowner Equity Tops All-Time High

U.S. homeowners collectively experienced a historic milestone in the 2018 second quarter – total ‘tappable’ home equity grew to a record high, according to Black Knight Inc. Black Knight’s Mortgage Monitor Report found that U.S. tappable equity jumped up to $6 trillion, a gain of $636 billion since the beginning of 2018 and triple the amount […]

Top 5 Best and Worst States at Managing Debt

Researchers have found a wide spread between the states where residents pay off their debts well versus those that don’t. Financial website Credible conducted a survey of over 540,000 borrowers from across all 50 U.S. states and found that credit card bills and student loans along with high housing costs are what keep many Americans from […]

Refinance Volume Falls to 18-Year Low

Fewer Americans applied for refinance loans in the latest week, as U.S. mortgage interest rates rose to a 5-week high, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. In fact, that jump in rates was enough to push refinance application volume to its lowest point in 18 years. “As mortgage rates increased to a five-week high, the […]

Mortgage Credit Loosens But Confidence Falls

Rising home prices and mortgage interest rates have prompted lenders to loosen their credit standards, but those same factors have caused Americans to feel less confident that now is a good time to buy a home. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index rose to 184.1% in July, up 1.7% from June. An increase in […]

Consumer Household Debt Tops Record High

Americans now have more debt than ever before, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but serious delinquency rates have remained near historic lows. Total U.S. household debt now amounts to $13.29 trillion as the of the 2018 second quarter, up 0.6% from the first quarter. This marks the 16th straight quarterly […]