Mortgage defaults keep rising and are getting much nearer to where they were in 2016 as damage from natural disasters continues to add to slight upward pressure on credit.
Default rates for first-lien mortgages rose slightly higher in August and remain lower year-over-year, but recent hurricanes could intensify loan performance concerns.
The Equifax breach has millions of Americans now thinking about freezing their credit to guard against identity theft. But those who act could be cutting themselves off from the nation's vast credit economy.
Efforts to persuade regulators to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to use alternative credit scores would stifle competition between the credit bureaus and FICO and do little to expand access to credit, according to industry analyst Chris Whalen.
Defaults on second-lien mortgages have crept up on a year-to-year and a consecutive-month basis; and first-lien defaults are above where they were the previous month, but still below year-ago levels.
First-lien mortgage defaults in June were down 4 basis points from the previous month and 5 basis points from where they were the previous year at 0.6%.
Defaults on first-lien mortgages fell 5 basis points in May from the previous month, dropping to their lowest level in a year, according to the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Index.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Experian sold consumers an "educational" credit score and falsely claimed in advertisements that the score was used by lenders to make credit decisions.
