Although the rate of serious delinquency on first mortgages improved for the first time in seven months, the second-mortgage rate was worse for the fourth consecutive month.
Ninety-day delinquency on consumer credit — including automobile loans, bank cards, first mortgages and second mortgages — was 1.12 percent in February.
Serious delinquency didn’t move from where it stood the previous month. But the 90-day rate did improve from one year prior, when it was 1.30 percent.
The details were revealed in the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices.
Among the five-largest metropolitan statistical areas, Dallas had the worst month-over-month movement, with the serious rate of delinquency surging 7 basis points to 1.17 percent last month.
Chicago
had the highest 90-day rate among the biggest MSAs in February: 1.18 percent.
In Miami, however, the rate tumbled 18 BPS to 1.17 percent.
On first mortgages,
loans past due at least 90 days accounted for 1.00 percent of all U.S. mortgages outstanding.
The rate of serious first-mortgage delinquency improved from January, when it stood at 1.02 percent.
It was the first decline in first-mortgage
delinquency since July 2014.
Because first mortgages are the biggest component of the indices, the improvement in delinquency kept the national composite rate from worsening.
A 23-basis-point improvement has been made since February 2014 on the rate of late payments on first liens.
Serious delinquency on second mortgages was 0.66 percent last month.
The second-mortgage rate worsened from January, when the rate was 0.64 percent. The rate has moved higher each month since October 2014, when it was a record-low 0.47 percent.
But second-mortgage servicers made headway compared to February 2014, when the 90-day rate was
0.69 percent.
