Analytics

Stockholm-based Investor AB has agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Oslo-based international debt collection firm Lindorff Group AB and entered into a partnership agreement with the previous majority shareholder, Altor Equity Partners.

Payforit, a mobile-ticketing service developed by several Europe-based mobile operators including Orange and Vadafone, is now a ticketing option for consumers who want to attend a concert at the London nightclub Scala on 15 Aug. United Kingdom-based mobile-content providers Dialogue Communications and AEI Mobile launched the service for the concert, according to a joint statement. Payforit enables consumers to use their mobile phones to buy goods and services that cost up to £10 (US$19.69 or 12.51 euros), the statement says. Users can make one-time payments or subscribe to the service. To purchase a ticket to the event, customers send a text message to receive a link to the club's mobile Web site. Customers then use the Payforit system to buy their tickets, which are sent by text message. Each ticket costs £10, according to the statement. "Mobile ticketing is a no-brainer for event-organizers, a good proportion of which are already using [text messaging] as the preferred marketing channel for events and functions," Del Dias, AEI Mobile managing director, says in a statement. Dialogue Communications did not respond to CardLine Global requests for comment.

Moody's: Dichotomy in Card Delinquency Trends May be Due to Tough Collection Environment

Mortgage Delinquencies Continue to Rise

Consumer credit outstanding rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.25% during April, aided by a 6.5% increase in borrowing on non-revolving accounts, consisting primarily of closed-end loans for items such as mobile homes, tuition and vacations. Revolving credit – primarily credit card spending – increased only 0.4% during April, compared with 7.4% growth in March.

Fifth Third Bank of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky is responding to the region's growing credit crisis by stepping up its outreach to customers struggling to make payments on their mortgages or other debts, such as car loans and credit cards.

Home Depot Inc. reports holders of its private-label credit card are more frequently paying late and defaulting as credit scores weaken across the board.

The U.S. Labor Department said today that the nation's unemployment rate jumped to 5.5% in May from 5.0% in April, the biggest monthly increase since February 1986 and a rise that places unemployment at the highest level since October 2004.

Get ready to update the customer lists.

by Peter Lucas

By Brandy Colbert

The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one- to four-unit residential properties stood at 6.35% of all loans outstanding at the end of the first quarter of 2008 on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 4.84% in the first quarter of 2007, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Thursday, based on its National Delinquency Survey.

Lexicon United Inc., an Austin, Texas-based financial services holding company, said its Brazilian subsidiary that specializes in debt collections, ATN Capital e Participacoes Ltd. (ATN), has acquired a portfolio of distressed debt assets of Banco do Brasil SA with a face value of 498.7 million reals (or about U.S. $305 million) from Ativos S/A Securitizadora.

Over the coming months, "we expect banking institutions to continue to face deteriorating loan quality," Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald L. Kohn warned the Senate's Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs today, in a talk on the condition of the U.S. banking system.

U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings jumped 30.9% in May from the same month last year, the American Bankruptcy Institute reports today, based on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center.

While the U.S. economy is weak, American Express Co. leaders are closely monitoring U.S. billings growth and the credit market overall.

The Discover U.S. Spending Monitor rose 1.4 points in May to 86.8 as consumers braced for higher spending in the wake of record gas and food prices. The card issuer released its report Wednesday.

Debt Settlement USA, a Phoenix-based debt settlement company, launched a Consumer Debt Index on Wednesday. It is a quarterly statistical analysis that measures the degree to which American consumers are suffering under an increasing burden of credit card, car payment, mortgage and other debt. In the first quarter of 2008, the index stood at 11.76, up 22% over the second quarter of 2007 when it was 9.60. This index is calculated based on a combination of the Consumer Price Index, consumer credit outstandings, mortgage delinquency rate and unsecured consumer loan delinquency rate. Since the second quarter of 2007, when the company began combining the aforementioned metrics, each index component has increased. For example, the mortgage delinquency rate soared by 67.7% and the consumer loan delinquency rate rose 18.6%. The level of outstanding consumer debt increased 4% and the Consumer Price Index grew from 2.08 to 2.12. However, the index's increases have softened since the June quarter of 2007. It rose 2.7% in the first quarter of 2008, after rising about 9% in the third and fourth quarters of 2007. "The Consumer Debt Index reflects an alarming trend for consumers who are trying to get out of debt. Clearly, people are increasingly unable to pay their credit card bills and mortgages," Debt Settlement President Jack Craven said in a statement. The CDI is calculated each quarter by adding the quarterly average of the U.S. Department of Commerce's monthly Consumer Price Index, the Federal Reserve's quarterly average of consumer credit outstandings, and the Fed's quarterly mortgage delinquency and unsecured consumer loan delinquency rates.

Finance companies held more than $2.06 trillion in outstanding receivables during March, virtually flat from what they held during February but up 1.7% from nearly $2.03 trillion in March 2007.

Franklin Credit Management Corp., a New York City-based specialty consumer finance company that primarily services and resolves performing, re-performing and non-performing residential mortgage loans, has signed an agreement to service loans for Bosco Credit LLC.