DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroiters are having a harder time catching up on debt than other Americans as the city ranks among the top 100 large cities in the U.S. where people have the biggest issues paying their bills.
According to personal-finance website WalletHub, Detroit is the second-most delinquent city with residents delinquent on 14.8% of all their loans and lines of credit.
This is the third-highest delinquency rate in terms of the number of individual tradelines, Wallethub added.
"When you look at dollar amounts, Detroit residents are delinquent on 16.5% of their entire debt, the second-highest rate in the country," analysts for the ranking said. "Given that this report takes both metrics into consideration, Detroit ranks second in the study overall (other cities that ranked higher in one metric ranked lower in another)."
WalletHub complied their rankings based on proprietary user data from Q4 2023 for the 100 largest cities. The site took into consideration both the percentage of individual tradelines that were delinquent, as well as the percentages of residents' total loan balances that were delinquent.
Laredo, Texas took the No. 1 spot on the list for most delinquent cities. Detroit, Mich. followed at No. 2 and San Bernardino, Calif. rounded out the top three.
"Being delinquent on debt can significantly damage a person's credit score and make it more difficult to get a credit card, rent apartments, or buy cars and homes in the future," Cassandra Happe, WalletHub analyst, said. "People who miss a loan payment should try to get current as quickly as possible. The good news is that for many types of debt, borrowers have at least 30 days before delinquency gets reported to the credit bureaus. That allows people a little leeway to get the funds together and avoid credit score damage, though the issuer will still likely charge a late fee."
The most delinquent cities are as follows:
1. Laredo, TX
2. Detroit, MI
3. San Bernardino, CA
4. Newark, NJ
5. Winston-Salem, NC
6. Philadelphia, PA
7. Baton Rouge, L
8. Bakersfield, CA
9. Greensboro, NC
10. Stockton, CA
The least delinquent cities are:
91. Portland, OR
92. Madison, WI
93. San Diego, CA
94. Boise, ID
95. Boston, MA
96. Honolulu, HI
97. San Francisco, CA
98. Scottsdale, AZ
99. Fremont, CA
100. Seattle, WA
For the full report and complete rankings please visit here.
