After what appears to have been a bump in the road, defaults continued to improve.
Delinquency of at least 90 days on residential first mortgages fell to 2.93 percent last month from 3.05 percent in November, according to the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices.
Late payments improved each of the past 13 months except during November.
A year earlier, the delinquency rate on first liens was approximately 4.77 percent.
The database is populated from payment data submitted by lenders to Experian each month. The credit bureau’s base of reporting firms covers around $11 trillion in outstanding loans from 11,500 lenders.
On second mortgages, the rate fell to 1.74 percent from November’s 1.80 percent. The second-lien delinquency level was around 3.53 percent a year earlier.
The composite credit default index, which also reflects bank cards and auto loans, fell to 3.01 percent in December from 3.13 percent the prior month.
Among major cities, Miami’s 10.15 percent composite index was worst during December and Dallas’ 2.21 percent was lowest.
