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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nextrade! who wrote (25285)	11/16/2004 9:20:09 PM
From: nextrade!	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

In Valley, credit scores low Poor ratings span South, Southwest Russ Wiles The Arizona Republic Nov. 16, 2004 12:00 AM azcentral.com Valley residents are struggling more than other Americans to pay their bills on time, and that is showing up in lower credit scores. A new report from Experian, one of the three big credit bureaus, points to credit problems generally for people living in the South and Southwest. "We found that more than half the (U.S.) population has a late payment on their files, with one-third of those happening within the last year," said Arlene Dang, manager of analytics for Experian Consumer Direct in Irvine, Calif. advertisement "People should be mindful of spending going into the holiday-shopping season." The study ascribed an average credit score to consumers in the Phoenix metro area of 658, nearly 20 points below the 677 national average. The highest possible score is 850. In a comparison of 20 big metro areas, Experian found that 38 percent of Phoenix-area residents have had one or more delinquencies on their credit reports within the past year, better than only Houston and Dallas, which tied for worst at 41 percent. In first-place Minneapolis, only 26 percent of residents had a delinquency within the past year. Delinquent payments are a key contributor to lower overall credit scores. People hobbled with poor scores typically have a harder time being approved for loans and often must pay higher interest rates on loans. Low scores also can result in denial of access to insurance, utility services and even employment. Along with late payments, delinquencies include repossessions and account charge-offs, Dang said. Experian didn't look at demographic factors that might help explain the poor showing of consumers in Phoenix and other Southern and Southwestern cities. Only 39 percent of Valley residents have no delinquencies, placing the Valley 18th of the 20 cities in that measure, too, again ahead of only Houston and Dallas (both with 35 percent) and trailing No. 1 Minneapolis (56 percent). The next-highest-scoring cities were Boston, Washington and San Francisco. Valley residents with no delinquencies had an average credit score of 755, near the U.S average of 759 for people with no delinquencies. Richard Le Febvre, president of AAA American Credit Bureau in Flagstaff, said cities with high Hispanic populations such as Phoenix tend to have lower credit scores because many Latinos, especially recent immigrants, don't have substantial credit histories. In general, less credit activity means lower scores. Also, Phoenix and other fast-growing cities in the South and Southwest have attracted a lot of newcomers. This can hurt because people who are relatively transient tend to score worse. Other factors that affect credit scores include the number of accounts open, the number of recent credit inquiries and applications, and debt levels.