One in 30 Homeowners Over 75-Years-Old Are In Foreclosure

Homeowners 75 years and older are facing an increasing number of home foreclosures according to the team at AARP. The organization for retired people says of those people facing foreclosure African-Americans and Hispanics are the hardest hit.

A study conducted by AARP has found that nearly 600,000 people 50 years or older are in foreclosure, while 625,000 are at least three months behind on their mortgages.

The study also revealed that 3.5 million seniors live in homes that are underwater, in other words they owe more on their home than it is currently worth, a product of a slumping housing market that has pushed prices to new lows.

The AARP notes that in the last five years the number of delinquent accounts has skyrocketed by 450 percent.

While people under 50 still have a higher rate of delinquency the AARP is quick to point out that failure to pay is increasing at a faster rate for senior citizens.

With many senior citizens living on a fixed income and unable to find jobs when they need them the problem is expected to only get worse.

A report in 2007 revealed that one out of every 300 homeowners 75 or older was in foreclosure, a number that has now jumped to one in 30.

With millions of senior citizens in America watching their retirement accounts dwindle during the 2007 economic collapse and subsequent years of recession, couples with the loss of benefits from a now deceased spouse it is almost as if seniors were hit by the perfect storm of financial ruin over the last five years.