According to a new survey by California-based TransUnion, a major credit reporting company, Florida remained in line with the national trend in the second quarter of 2010, seeing the number of past-due car payments fall significantly. However, his good news is coupled with Florida’s ranking in the survey as one of the worst offenders for mortgage and credit card debt. Our state’s car-loan delinquency rate dropped to .67 percent in Q2, a dramatic 27.2 percent drop from in the same period of 2009, the 19th greatest improvement in the country.
The survey was based on a random sample of 27 million customer credit records that focused on car loans at least 60 days past due. The nation’s delinquency average was .053 percent in Q2, down 27.4 percent from the second quarter last year. Improvements throughout the country are attributed by experts to a large increase in availability of low-interest, lower-risk loans financed by car deals in order to increase sales numbers. Logically, the survey revealed car-loans in specific were up 18.7 percent from last year, which is the largest increase since the beginning of the recession in late 2007.
TransUnion made a point to note that not all the credit for the decrease in past due car loans can be attributed to dealers. Consumers appear to be doing better at engaging in fiscal responsibility and managing their own debt.
TransUnion’s survey sheds a much needed positive light on Florida, recently ranked in a survey by Atlanta-based CredAbility, a non-profit credit-counseling operation, as the third worst state in the country for financial woe. That survey took into account consumer debt foreclosures, unemployment rates, and other debt-related data in compiling an overall score for each state. Florida scored a 61.01 out of 100 on the test. Any score below 70 on this test is a clear indicator of widespread financial distress in a particular state.
TransUnion also released data this week that indicates Florida’s mortgage-delinquency rate in Q2 sat at 15.02 percent, the second highest in the country (Nevada holds the highest rate is 15.86 percent). Our state’s credit card delinquency rate was also second highest, right below Nevada’s at 1.24 percent.
Though making timely car payments is on the rise, it appears the good news is only one small footnote of Florida’s generally poor financial situation. It’s likely many Floridians will continue to pursue bankruptcy options when seeking debt relief.
Source: Orlando Sentinel “Amid delinquencies, Florida cuts past-due car loans” 9/1/10