The rate of serious delinquency on home loans stands at the lowest level on record. On just second mortgages, it was the second consecutive new low.
Ninety-day delinquency on consumer credit was 0.88 percent as of May — a record low based on data back to April 2004.
It was the second month in a row that serious delinquency on consumer credit fell to the lowest level on record.
The performance data was detailed in the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices.
In April, the rate was a record-low 0.97 percent, while serious delinquency was 1.04 percent in May 2014.
David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, noted in the report that the improvement in consumer performance is no surprise given persistently low interest rates, near-record-low consumer debt service as a share of household income, and the peak in consumer wealth in the first quarter.
“The economy looks good, consumers are spending and credit usage is rising,” Blitzer said. “The combination of low debt service and economic expansion should ease worries about the fallout some fear when the Federal Reserve boosts interest rates.”
Consumer delinquency was just 0.70 percent as of May in Dallas — plunging 20 basis points from a month earlier and lower than in any of the five-largest metropolitan statistical areas.
At the other end of scale was the
Miami MSA, where the rate was 1.17 percent — though that was a three-basis-point improvement from April.
Zeroing in on first mortgages, the 90-day U.S. rate was 0.74 percent.
Turns out that first-mortgage delinquency was at its lowest level on record.
Serious delinquency on first mortgages was 0.83 percent in April and 0.92 percent in May 2014.
On second mortgages, the 90-day rate was 0.42 percent.
Second-mortgage delinquency was down from a record-low 0.43 percent in April.
In May 2014, the rate of serious delinquency on second mortgages was 0.57 percent.