Quarterly loan performance on home-equity products was mixed, with closed-end defaults rising and credit-line late payments improving.
Third-quarter delinquency of at least 30 days on home-equity loans was 4.05 percent in the Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin from the American Bankers Association. Defaults deteriorated from 3.97 percent in the second quarter but improved from 4.30 percent a year earlier.
The rate on home-equity lines-of-credit improved to 1.74 percent from the previous period’s 1.81 percent. During the same period in 2009, HELOC delinquency was higher at 2.12 percent.
Delinquency on mobile-home loans was 4.01 percent, unchanged from three months earlier. The rate a year earlier was 3.63 percent.
Property improvement late payments tumbled to 1.23 percent from the second quarter’s 1.35 percent.
The composite delinquency index, which is made up of eight types of closed-end loans, rose to 3.01 percent in the third quarter from the prior quarter’s 3.00 percent. The trade group blamed a stagnant labor market for less stellar performance recently.
“The economy just skipped a beat in the third quarter,” ABA Chief Economist James Chessen said. “It doesn’t move in a straight line and neither do consumer credit delinquencies.“
But compared to the third-quarter 2009, the composite index was 22 BPS better.
Chessen predicted that momentum will return and delinquencies improve over the next six months.