banktime.com

The percentage of U.S. home mortgages going sour continued to rise during the month of August, according to a recently-released Reuters report out of New York. The continually high rate of unemployment kept driving mortgage delinquencies through the end of the summer, which in turn continued to contribute to mounting foreclosure and bankruptcy rates. Among those American families that owned homes, 7.58 percent were at least thirty days behind on their mortgage payment, up from 7.32 percent in the month of July. The month of August was the fourth in a row during which the delinquency rate grew. More disturbingly, each consecutive month of increased delinquency seemed to show an accelerated pace.

Overall, subprime mortgages now account for forty-one percent of all outstanding loans in the U.S. Over the summer, that rate stayed steady at around thirty-nine percent. The jump is also representative of growing trouble in real estate. This is in spite of the fact that consumer confidence is reported starting to recover, and the fact that indicators are performing a bit better than in recent months.

Last month, the rate of personal bankruptcy filings was up thirty-two percent from August 2008. In July, the rate was increased thirty-five percent over the previous year. In a solitary note of good news, Reuters disclosed that Americans are finally starting to at least catch up on their other bills. Credit card delinquencies have been down for three straight months, which is excellent news. Lenders have imposed much stricter borrower standards on consumers, which has promoted better rates of loan repayment.