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Washington -- The number of home-equity loans and lines that were overdue increased sharply late last year, according to the American Bankers Association.
And that helped push the overall consumer loan delinquency rate at banks to a high not seen since 1992.
The delinquency rate on closed-end home-equity loans rose 11 basis points from the third quarter to 2.39% at the end of 2007, according to the ABA. The delinquency rate on home-equity lines of credit rose 12 basis points to 0.96%.
The delinquency rate for closed-end home-equity loans is at its highest level since the second quarter of 2005. And the delinquency rate on HELOCs is at its highest level since the fourth quarter of 1997, though the HELOC overdue rate remains the lowest among consumer credit categories tracked by the ABA.
All eight consumer loan types saw an increase in overdue rates, with the largest increase being posted by indirect auto loans.
That pushed the ABA's composite consumer delinquency rate to 2.65%, the highest level in 16 years.
James Chessen, chief economist for the ABA, said the rise in consumer credit delinquencies reflects a rapidly slowing economy.
Source: HighBeam Research, Home Equity Overdues Rise.