More borrowers made good on their promises to make their mortgage payments on time.
First-mortgage delinquency of at least three months was 1.93 percent in July based on the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices. The findings were derived from data on $11 trillion in loans sourced from 11,500 lenders by Experian.
Late payments improved from 2.02 percent in June. Compared to July 2010, first-mortgage delinquency was down 131 basis points.
“By and large, July’s data support the downward trend we have observed over the past two years,” David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee for S&P Indices, said in the report. “Despite high unemployment rates, consumers continue to improve their financial positions, resulting in lower default rates than we were seeing during the recession.”
Moving on to second mortgages, the rate fell to 1.25 percent from 1.40 percent a month earlier. Second-mortgage delinquency has tumbled from 2.77 percent from a year earlier.
The Composite Index indicated that overall delinquency — including defaults on home loans, bank cards and automobile loans — improved to 2.06 percent from 2.14 percent in June. During the same month last year, the composite rate was 3.42 percent.
In the five biggest Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Miami’s 5.37 percent overall delinquency rate was higher than any other city but lower than 5.41 percent in June.
A 1.60 percent rate in Dallas was the best of the top-five MSAs.
