U.S. homeowners are doing better at keeping up with their mortgage payments, aided by an improving housing market and more refinancing opportunities. The percentage of mortgage holders at least two months behind on their payments fell in the third quarter to 5.41%, the lowest point in more than three years.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac extended their disaster-relief policies to borrowers whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The aid applies to property owners living in towns and cities along the eastern United States that have been declared disaster areas by President Obama.
The recession and its hangover have turned our bill-paying habits upside down. Cash-strapped Americans are paying off their car loans before they pay credit card bills and make mortgage payments, a TransUnion study finds.
While lawmakers in Washington debated the debt ceiling and consumer confidence dropped, more homeowners in the U.S. were having a harder time making their mortgage payments. The rate that mortgage holders were late with their payments by 60 days or more rose in the June-to-September period for the first time since the last three months of 2009, according to TransUnion.
Fewer Americans are having trouble paying their mortgages now compared to a year ago, according to a new survey. The bad news? Fewer Americans have mortgages. Some of those who were struggling last year have since sold or foreclosed.
If struggling homeowners can make trial modified mortgage payments, the next logical step, it seems, would be to make the modifications permanent. Sadly, however, this is a rare occurrence. Follow the stories of three families as they wrestle with the foreclosure process.
