AARP released a study recently that debunks the myth that older homeowners are not vulnerable to the mortgage and credit crisis. The study showed that older homeowners of subprime first mortgages are 17 times more likely to be in foreclosure than those in prime loans. The new research by New research by the AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) to be released tomorrow shows that for the six month period ending in December, 2007,
684,000 older Americans (aged 50 and over) were either in foreclosure or were delinquent in mortgage payments. That’s more than a quarter of all foreclosures or delinquencies (28.1 percent).
The survey shows that African-Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately affected in comparison with whites in their age group. Among mortgage holders aged 50 and over, African American and Hispanic borrowers both have foreclosure rates of 0.51 percent, compared to a rate of 0.19 percent for Caucasians.
The report by PPI is based on a random sample totaling 2.5 million mortgage holders, including about one million who are 50 years old or older. The sample is from the database of Experian, a major U.S. credit bureau.
http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/i9_mortgage.pdf
