More than Half of Households Having Trouble Paying Bills: Survey

Consumers are dipping into their savings in order to meet delinquent payments, and more than half are having trouble meeting their expenses, according to an April survey released on Friday by Online Resources Corp (Nasdaq: ORCC).

Americans in all demographic groups continue to prioritize among their bills by creating a “delinquency budget,” according to the survey of 1,016 nationally representative U.S. households. The mortgage still ranks first as the bill that households are most likely to pay, although the percentage of households that reported being delinquent with their mortgage payments has increased significantly.

Fifty-two percent of households said they had taken money out of savings, retirement accounts or investments in the past 12 months to pay for necessary living expenses, the survey found.

More than half of all households are finding it harder to pay their bills, according to the survey. Of the households surveyed, 52 percent report that it is harder for them to meet their financial obligations, including bills, loans, mortgage and other debt, than it was 12 months ago. When Online Resources conducted the survey last October 43 percent of households reported that it was harder to meet their financial obligations.

Increased energy costs are the primary driver, cited by 70 percent of the households that are having a harder time. This number is up from the 59 percent that cited increased energy costs in October.

Although credit cards continue to have the highest reported delinquency rate, mortgage and utility delinquency rates have increased significantly in the last six months. The survey also found that 27 percent of households report having at least one bill 30 or more days overdue and 14 percent had at least one bill 90 or more days overdue.

Chantilly, Va.-based Online Resources provides financial technology services for financial institutions nationwide.