By Ros
Krasny
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Delinquent loans at small and
medium-sized U.S. businesses showed tentative signs
of having peaked in March, according to figures from
PayNet Inc, a firm that tracks trends in the
commercial lending market.
Loans first falling behind in payment fell
slightly on the month for the first time since
October, although those more severely behind rose
again to hit new peaks for the current U.S.
recession.
PayNet on Friday said that accounts in moderate
delinquency, or behind by 30 days or more, slipped
to 4.37 percent in March from 4.40 percent in
February but were still up from 3.5 percent a year
earlier.
"Three out of every four of the loan issuers
in this data set reported lower delinquencies"
on the 30-day measure, Bill Phelan, PayNet's
president and founder, told Reuters in a telephone
interview. "The improvement was mostly among
banks. The captive finance business is still seeing
problems."
Accounts 90 days or more behind in payment, or in
severe delinquency, rose to 1.39 percent in March
from 1.31 in February and were up from 1.04 percent
a year earlier.
Those 180 days behind, or considered to be in
default, hit 0.68 percent against 0.65 percent in
February and 0.38 percent in March 2008.
"We'll spend some time filtering these bad
loans through the system," Phelan said, adding
that delinquencies are running higher in the current
recession than in recent ones.
"The recession continues to severely impact
privately-held businesses," he said.
PayNet, based in Skokie, Illinois, collects and
analyzes real-time loan information, such as
originations and delinquencies, from more than 200
leading U.S. capital equipment lenders.
The company's proprietary database encompasses
more than 14 million current and historic contracts,
worth some $645 billion.
More than half the money invested in plants,
equipment and software in the United States in any
given year is financed with loans, leases and lines
of credit.
