- Outlook: Dollar Likely to Ride Higher on Bleak Jobs Report
- Holiday Airfare Close to Last Year's and Climbing
- Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Says Net Income Tripled
- Cramer: Earnings, IPOs Dominate Next Week
- Buying Fear: How to Own Volatility
- Administration Rejects Plan to Buy Fannie Mae Credits
- Consumers Haven't Changed —They Just Got Pickier
- Want the Homebuyer's Tax Credit? Here Are Some Tips
- Fears of Bubble Prompt Investors to Seek Exit Strategy
- Tommy Lee, Medical Tourism and Nasty Santa, Your Emails
- U.S. Markets Gain 3% for the Week Despite 10.2% Unemployment
- Disney's 'Carol' Tests Widest 3-D Release Ever
- Stimulus II? Jobs Tax Credit=Cash For Clunkers
- Rockwell Automation Earnings: What Options Are Saying
- Gold Will Touch Higher Lows and Higher Highs: Analyst
- Is Misery Alive And Well in Your Office?
- Consumers Haven't Changed, They Are Just Pickier
- Watch Foreclosures, Seriously
MOST SHARED
- Solar Market Heating Back Up?
- Realty Execs See Pain Ahead
- Tommy Lee, Medical Tourism and Nasty Santa, Your Emails
- Keith Bergelt: The Case for Market Based Patent Reform
- Want the Homebuyer's Tax Credit? Here Are Some Tips
- Buying Fear: How to Own Volatility
- Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Says Net Income Tripled
- Oil Next Week
- Consumers Haven't Changed, They Are Just Pickier
- Can't Find a Job in Your Town? Here Are the Best Places to Look
Text Size 
Late payments on U.S. home equity lines of credit rose to a 21-year high in the first quarter of 2008 due to continued stress in the housing market and general weakness in the economy, the American Bankers Association said Wednesday.
In its quarterly report on consumer borrowing, the bankers group said the percentage of home equity lines that were more than 30 days past due rose to 1.1 percent from 0.96 percent the prior quarter.
That rate is the highest since the ABA started collecting the data in 1987.
"It was a tough quarter for some people," said ABA chief economist James Chessen in a statement. "Faced with rising food and gas prices and little income growth, fewer resources have been available to manage debt."
Bank card delinquencies also rose in the first quarter to 4.51 percent, which is slightly above the five-year average delinquency rate of 4.4 percent for the category.
Other delinquency categories showed improvement.
Indirect auto loan delinquencies fell to 3.09 percent during the first quarter from 3.13 percent the prior quarter. Property improvement loan delinquencies fell to 1.78 percent from 1.81 percent.
But Chessen said delinquencies will remain elevated in the near future.
"The tax stimulus is helping to boost personal income, but persistently high gas and food prices will eat away at overall resources," he said.
Print
Email
- Rumors abound that Oprah will leave her show to start a new network. What would this mean for daytime TV?
- Berkeley's Chez Panisse and the trend of eating locally grown, pesticide-free seasonal foods.
- Cramer did the research and found eight stocks that lead the pack. Read on to get his top picks.
- Did Hideki Matsui’s performance make it more likely that the Yankees will pay to have him back?
- Which wines should you bring—or serve—with holiday meals this year? Ask a connoisseur.
- Two competitors in this year’s World Series of Poker in Las Vegas have stories fit for Hollywood.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes