Mortgage Defaults Fall in Experian Consumer Credit Report

Consumer credit defaults, with the exception of credit cards, fell in March for the third consecutive month S&P and Experian said on Monday.  The national Consumer Credit Default Composite Index released by the two companies declined to 1.96 percent in March from 2.09 percent the month before.

The index measuring first mortgage defaults was down to 1.88 percent from 2.02 percent in February.  This 14 basis point decline brings that index below the prior low reached last August.  The second mortgage rate was down even more, 17 basis points to 1.03 percent and auto loans fell from 1.22 percent to 1.11 percent bringing both to the lowest levels in the three year history of the report.

Bank card default rates, on the other hand, increased to 4.47 percent in March from 4.41 percent in February when it set its historic low.

 "The first quarter of 2012 was largely positive for the consumer," says David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee for S&P Indices. "Not only have we resumed the downward trend in consumer default rates that began in the spring of 2009, but we appear to be reaching new lows across most loan types. The first three months of 2012 show broad based declines in default rates with first and second mortgage, auto and composite default rates all reaching post-recession lows.

The report focuses on five metropolitan statistical areas and in four out of the five the default rate dropped and two of the five, Chicago and Miami, posted new lows.  Only LA showed a small - one basis point - increase from February's number.