Mortgage delinquencies jumped again in August, according to new data from Equifax and Moody's Economy.com. The new data provide the first big-picture look at how the credit crunch is hitting homeowners.
Nationwide, 3.56% of mortgages were at least 30 days past due last month, up 0.31 percentage points from July. The delinquency rate has increased about 1.5 points since bottoming out at the end of 2005, with fully half of that increase coming in the last three months.
Delinquencies have climbed since August 2006 in all 50 states, and 10 states have posted an increase of more than one percentage point. The rise in bad loans is "broad based," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "That signals that foreclosure problems are going to be widespread."
Notice that late payments are accelerating.
Take a look at this graph that shows when mortgage resets will occur and by how much.
Not a pretty picture, is it?
