July 7, 2009: US Home Equity Loan Delinquencies at Record High for First Quarter 2009

Eighteen consecutive months of job losses and an economy on the verge of collapse have left record numbers of US consumers either unable to pay their debts or chronically late in payments during the first quarter of 2009. According to the American Bankers Association, home equity loan delinquencies rose to 3.52 percent, from 3.03 percent of all accounts in the last quarter of 2008. Late payments on home equity credit lines climbed a record 1.89 percent, and an index of eight types of loans rose to 3.23 percent from 3.22 percent for a fourth consecutive quarter. In a telephone interview with Bloomberg, the American Bankers Association’s chief economist, James Chessen says: “The number one driver of delinquencies is job losses, which we’ve seen build and build. Delinquencies won’t come down without a dramatic improvement in the economy, and businesses will have to start hiring again.” For the first quarter of 2009, the US economy lost an average of 691,000 jobs in each of the quarter’s three months. According to a Bloomberg survey of 61 economists, since the recession began in December 2007, more than 6.5 million jobs have been cut, and the US economy will shrink in 2009 the most since 1946. Outstanding debt on bank card delinquencies rose a record 6.60 percent in first quarter 2009, from 5.52 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, indicating that unemployed borrowers are relying on bank cards, as housing prices corrode their home equity. The ABA stated that more borrowers are using cards to meet daily expenses following their job losses. US banks distributed 9.8 million credit cards from January through April 2009, a 38 percent decline from the same period a year earlier, with the average limit for a new bank card falling 3 percent to $4,594, according to data released by credit reporting agency Equifax. “There is less equity to draw on and certainly financial institutions have been scaling back the available lines of credit,” Chessen says. [Bloomberg, 7/7/2009; American Bankers Association, 7/7/2009]