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And the worst of it is, they appear to have no specific reason they can point to for this occuring.
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. The credit reporting agency said 5.88 percent of homeowners missed two or more payments, an early sign of possible foreclosure. That was up from 5.82 percent in the second quarter of 2011.
The increase surprised TransUnion researchers, who previously forecast late payments, or delinquency, to fall for the quarter. "It's much different than we've been talking about the last few quarters," said Tim Martin, group vice president of U.S. Housing in TransUnion's financial services business unit. The problems were widespread. Between the second and third quarters, all but 10 states and the District of Columbia saw delinquency rates increase. TransUnion's data is culled from 27 million credit reports, representing about 10 percent of all U.S. consumers who actively use some form of credit.
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/08/142139568/late-mortgage-payments-see-first-rise-in-years
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That's a good point, cookiefan. I know several people who have lost hours maybe 5 a week, which doesn't sound a lot until the paycheck comes in. They aren't reflected in anybody's calculations.
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That's how companies get away with pretending all's well onboard with their ship, purplerain. If they only cut hours and not jobs, they don't need to make an announcement about it. This country's in much worse shape than many know.
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That's how companies get away with pretending all's well onboard with their ship, purplerain. If they only cut hours and not jobs, they don't need to make an announcement about it. This country's in much worse shape than many know.
I agree with that, Zoey. There's nowhere near the seasonal recruitment of temporary workers this year either, judging by what my neighbors that work in retail are telling me. The existing staff are expected to take on the extra Christmas workload without complaining of course. It's ridiculous that they have no qualms about running their staff into the ground.
It's not rocket science. People are losing their jobs so they can't pay their mortgages. The ones who keep their jobs but have their hours cut aren't reflected in the unemployment numbers, and that's happening all over the country. That's why they can't figure it out if they can see all those hidden less well paid folks.
Without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor.
- Samuel Johnson