More households doing the ‘unthinkable’
Consumers used to skip the monthly mortgage bill only as a last resort.
More households doing the 'unthinkable'
Amid high unemployment and sliding home prices, a growing number of struggling consumers are doing what was once considered unthinkable: paying their credit card bills instead of their mortgages … The data reflects a “fundamental paradigm shift” in the way consumers prioritize payment of debt obligations, says Ezra Becker, of TransUnion. “This is dramatically different,” he says. “It is a clear manifestation of the dynamics that lead up to the recession and the recession itself.” Before the housing crisis, bankers typically operated under the assumption that homeowners would do whatever possible to remain current on their mortgage–even if that meant falling behind on other bills. “It used to be that the mortgage was sacrosanct,” says Keith Gumbinger of HSH.com. “You paid it before anything else.” But a combination of factors linked to the current economic mess–falling home prices, high unemployment, and tight consumer credit–have lead many consumers to prioritize credit card payments above mortgage bills – Read full article…
No comments:
Post a Comment