With the credit crunch making it difficult for consumers to obtain loans, more are turning to credit cards to meet their expenses.  As traditional low interest home equity loans and refinancing options become less accessible many are forced to rack up credit card debt at higher interest rates.

"Government and agency statistics illustrate this troubling trend. The Federal Reserve reported Wednesday that Americans’ credit card debt jumped 6.7% in the first quarter of this year to $957.2 billion, This spike comes despite the fact that nearly one in three banks is tightening guidelines for credit cards."

From CNN Money:
Barely surviving on credit cards

WE’VE all heard a great deal in recent months about the greedy borrowers who caused the subprime mortgage calamity. Hordes of them duped unsuspecting lenders, don’t you know, by falsifying their incomes on loan documents. Now those loans are in default and the rapacious borrowers have moved on with their riches.

People who make these claims, with a straight face no less, overlook a crucial fact. Almost all mortgage applicants had to sign a document allowing lenders to verify their incomes with the Internal Revenue Service. At least 90 percent of borrowers had to sign, seal and deliver this form, known as a 4506T, industry experts say. This includes the so-called stated income mortgages, affectionately known as “liar loans.”

So while borrowers may have misrepresented their incomes, either on their own or at the urging of their mortgage brokers, lenders had the tools to identify these fibs before making the loans. All they had to do was ask the I.R.S. The fact that in most cases they apparently didn’t do so puts the lie to the idea that cagey borrowers duped unsuspecting lenders to secure on loans that are now — surprise! — failing.

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A Road Not Taken by Lenders

Arizona has received $1.45 million in federal funding to help the state’s growing number of homeowners facing foreclosure.

The money is part of the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program, and it’s the first federal money dedicated solely to foreclosure prevention to reach Arizona.

Last month, 2,250 families in metro Phoenix lost their homes to foreclosure. That’s the highest monthly rate for defaults in the Valley since 1990, according to the Information Market.

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Arizona gets foreclosure aid funding

New-home communities in the West Valley that led the local housing boom for sales are now plagued with the Valley’s highest foreclosure rates.

Eight of metro Phoenix’s top 10 areas for foreclosure rates are on the Valley’s west side, according to an Arizona Republic analysis of data for the past 13 months from the Information Market.

Tolleson topped the list, with 66 foreclosure notices for every 1,000 residents.

Last month, 2,250 homes in the Valley were foreclosed on. That is 200 more than in January. A year ago, there were only 365 foreclosures in metro Phoenix.
 

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West Valley hit hardest by foreclosures

The Phoenix area ranks 22nd among major US cities for the most foreclosure activity. There were over 56,000 foreclosure filings in the Phoenix Valley in 2007, up 177% from 2006. Nearly 2% percent of all Phoenix area homes were effected by a foreclosure filing last year.

If you are facing foreclosure, we can help you find alternatives. Contact us for a free consultation.

A plan to halt foreclosure proceedings on defaulted homeowners may have a positive effect for the U.S. mortgage market and related bonds, Standard & Poor’s said in a report on Thursday.

The "Project Lifeline" announced by six large banks this week is the broadest plan announced to date to ease terms on unaffordable mortgatges, S&P said. By keeping people in their homes, the plan may help reduce declines in home prices that create a downward spiral for U.S. housing, it said.

Banks’ foreclosure plan may help mortgage debt -S&P