Tag Archives: CredAbility

A rise in stock prices has helped to grow consumers' net worth, but financial duress related to housing and a weak job market are weighing heavy on U.S. households and overshadowing any assurances that an economic recovery is underway. The nonprofit credit counseling agency CredAbility has released its Consumer Distress Index results for the fourth quarter of 2010. The organization found that the health of household budgets has fallen to its lowest level since the first quarter of 2009, causing many homeowners to miss mortgage payments.

The overall financial health of consumers showed incremental improvements in the first half of 2010, but that progress was wiped out during a span of three months due to weaker household budgets, renewed strains on housing costs, and high levels of unemployment, according to the nonprofit credit counseling agency CredAbility. The average U.S. consumer has been in financial ""distress"" for nine consecutive quarters, with consumers in some parts of the country headed for financial ""crisis.""

High levels of unemployment and the strain of housing costs continue to keep consumers mired in financial distress, according to data released by the nonprofit credit counseling agency CredAbility. While economic and mortgage duress is the underlying theme of the agency's second-quarter findings, CredAbility noted that consumers' net worth has actually increased for the past five quarters as they continue to pay down debt and, in some parts of the country, benefit from stabilizing housing prices.