BOSTON, Jan. 7, 2009

Late Loan Payments Hit Record High

3Q Delinquencies Hit Record Levels For Indirect Auto Loans And Home Equity Lines Of Credit

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(CBS/ AP)  Late payments on consumer loans in last year's third quarter hit the highest level since record-keeping began in 1980, the American Bankers Association said Wednesday.

The association said delinquencies rose to a seasonally adjusted 2.9 percent from 2.68 percent in the second quarter. The number is a composite ratio reflecting the percentage of accounts across eight categories of consumer loans with payments overdue 30 days or longer.

The previous record was 2.88 percent, set in the third quarter of 1989, ABA spokeswoman Carol Kaplan said.

The problem started with mortgages, reports CBS News business correspondent Anthony Mason, but now delinquencies on auto loans and home equity loans have reached record levels. And a new study says it's spreading to credit cards.

Since July, the study found, balances that are more than 60 days past due have risen more than 34 percent, Mason reports, and 5 percent of all credit card borrowers are now more than 2 months behind.

The Washington-based ABA said delinquencies hit record levels in the July-through-September period for two types of loans: indirect auto loans and home equity lines of credit.

Indirect auto loans, which account for 90 percent of auto loans, are bank loans arranged through a third party such as an auto dealer. Delinquencies for those loans jumped to 3.25 percent from 3.07 percent in the second quarter, the ABA said. The previous record in that category was 3.13 percent, set in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Delinquencies for home equity lines of credit rose to 1.15 percent from 1.08 percent. The previous quarterly high in that category was 1.1 percent, set in last year's first quarter.

"The number one factor in rising consumer credit delinquencies is job losses," said James Chessen, the ABA's chief economist. "With one million jobs lost in the first three quarters (of 2008) and two and a half million expected for the year, delinquencies of all types of consumer loans will likely increase in the coming quarters."

The bank card category was one of only two that showed a third-quarter decline in delinquencies, dropping to 4.2 percent of all accounts from 4.54. The other category that fell was direct auto loans, with delinquencies declining to 1.71 percent from 1.77 percent.

In addition to indirect auto loans, categories that make up the composite ratio and posted increases in third-quarter delinquencies included: property improvement, marine, recreational vehicle, mobile home, personal loans and home equity loans.




© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Add a Comment See all 51 Comments
by win4usa January 8, 2009 4:28 PM EST
Maybe people will learn the difference between wants and needs. If you can''t afford to pay cash then you can''t afford to have it.
Reply to this comment
by whitemale08 January 8, 2009 1:15 PM EST
And yes, I firmly believe you''''re being systematically brainwashed by the corrupt media lead by the pinko commies who''''ve hijacked the DNC.

Posted by TexHillGirl at 12:49 AM : Jan 08, 2009--

You have no idea what you are talking about.

I lived through the Carter years and we were in much better shape then we are now.

Talk about ''gas lines'', have you seen how many gas stations have closed due gas going up to 5 bucks a gallon?

Fannie and Freddie going under never happened on Jimmy Carter''s watch.

The Big 3 never was going bankrupt under Jimmy Carter.

The banks going under and trillions in bailout money never happened in Jimmy Carter.

This is the worse economy since the Great Depression and it''s possiby worse if we do not reject Republican ideaology of ''supply-side-trickle-down-union-busting-low-wage-service-sector-post-industrial-voodoo-bullsh*t'' economics!

Reagan was an idiot!
Reply to this comment
by stinginrich January 8, 2009 7:59 AM EST
"We''ll meet again, don''t know where, don''t know when,
But I know we''ll meet again, some sunny day.
Keep smiling through, just like you always do,
''Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away"...

-Dame Vera Lynn


Well, it was a nice little run, (233 years), but once again, the Greedy Scumbags, Buttweasles, and Assmonkeys couldn''t help themselves from sucking it dry......


United States of America
1776 - 2009
R.I.P.
Reply to this comment
by flsunjnky January 8, 2009 4:08 AM EST
No, ibsteve2u. She thinks that we need to take the most krapped out place on the earth that the Republicans have left us and made it BLOOM!
Reply to this comment
by missingamerica January 8, 2009 3:59 AM EST
The freaking Jews took the most krapped out place on the earth and made it BLOOM! WHAT''''S WRONG WITH AMERICANS?

Posted by TexHillGirl at 12:52 AM : Jan 08, 2009

lollll...

Li''ll Miss "Liberals live on welfare!" conveniently chooses to ignore the massive subsidies Israel has received from the U.S. taxpayer for decades upon decades when doing so would interfere with her hard-right biases...
Reply to this comment
by flsunjnky January 8, 2009 3:59 AM EST
You''re right ibsteve2u. Most of the people that HillGirl refers to, as far as gaining employment after 17 weeks of unemployment, are underemployed! And we need to think that is progress? HA!
Reply to this comment
by flsunjnky January 8, 2009 3:57 AM EST
I believe the job statistics are greatly a bunch of BULL!
....how can you expect people to be happy crapped up in a bunch of slums where there''''s no work and no efforts for work, because nobody wants to invest there...
Posted by TexHillGirl

Do you realize that this is a national problem? Don''t you know that slums are not in rural communities where unemployment is rampant? Do you really have any clue.

No. You have a frail grasp on reality.
Reply to this comment
by missingamerica January 8, 2009 3:56 AM EST
You know the sad thing - as necessary as it may be - about Obama''s stimulus idea that is based upon the reconstruction of our sadly and long-neglected infrastructure?

Most of those computer scientists, engineers, and the other highly-educated, highly-proficient types who invested all of that money into getting expensive four-year degrees have been displaced by the lower cost of living and lack of environmental and worker and consumer safety laws offshore?

All they have to look forward to is downgrading their dreams to accommodate the continuing slide in their income-generation capabilities.

And the march to dumb down America and eliminate its technological superiority stumbles on...
Reply to this comment
by flsunjnky January 8, 2009 3:27 AM EST
downtowner97, you are in the very position that many of Americans are into right now. And we need solutions. We don''t need them from yesterday, we need them now and we need them now. Solutions that will last for us and be there tomorrow too.
Reply to this comment
by flsunjnky January 8, 2009 3:23 AM EST
It''s really nice if you can live with your head in the clouds. Denial? Is that what they call it? The fact is that we are where we are. Solutions come from forward thinking.
Reply to this comment
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