Mortgage trouble rarely starts with one dramatic financial disaster. More often, it creeps into a household budget through higher everyday expenses, an unexpected repair, a job change, or a few bills that suddenly seem determined to arrive at the same time. Recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau mortgage performance data show that homeowners in certain states have been falling behind on mortgage payments more often than homeowners elsewhere.
The data can identify where delinquency appears more common, but they cannot point to one universal reason behind each state’s position. That makes the story more interesting, because mortgage stress can reflect a messy combination of household finances, local employment, housing costs, insurance expenses and other pressures. Here are the states that stand out and some of the factors that may help explain why homeowners there could be struggling to keep up.
