Eldred, well I agree with that in a way but what I find interesting is this quote ” In a twist, Becker said the foreclosure crisis could be helping to improve the timeliness of credit card payments and lower balances.
When people don’t make mortgage payments, he suggested, they have a short-term cash boost.
“That can provide extra money to pay down credit cards,” he said.
Besides paying down debt, consumers are getting fewer new cards.
Nationwide, the number of new accounts opened dropped almost 6.5 percent from last year.” as I said interesting…or as Mr.Spock would say “fascinating’ Deb Debra & Bruce Heerter

Many years ago I did collections for GE Capital on mortgages.
I lasted about 3 months.
I can tell you GE started to call at about 21 days as “courtesy calls” to customers.
Many people had caller ID and just ignored the calls.
Many people promised to pay and didn’t.
I was a professional in all my calls and once you promised payment, I didn’t call back until the person broke their promise.
Now compound that on top of I was calling California earthquake victims after the 1994 quake.
Months later houses had not been repaired, but they still had to make the mortgage payment.
These days the companies have a little more compassion after large natural disasters, but not much.
Oh the stories I could tell.

I agree – I caught a DR segment that talked about this too.  He said he’d been mislead by the original stat re: the reductiong of CC balances.  He learned later that the CC companies were writing off large amounts, creating a decrease in outstanding cc debts.
  “Debt is Dumb, Cash is King” – DR   Pickett

Eldred, here’s another crazy amount from way back when.
At 17, I was a service representative for AT&T, a phone bill was $3.58 a month and we had to call for payment and also cut them off if we didn’t get it.
I hated those calls.
We talked people into buying those princess phones that slid all over the table and phone listings at .35 cents a month for all the people in the house.
There were bonuses for conning people into those things.
We had a horrible, insulting boss who would have his socks sued off today for treating workers the way he treated us.
  Another question, aren’t those mortgages that people are walking away from going to come back to bite them? I think the loans just get sold to some other entity that will still come after you for the balance eventually after it gets sold for whatever they can get.
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My cousin did the same thing.  Quit paying his mortgage and ran up the credit cards going on trips and shopping sprees.  When the bank foreclosed, he moved into a rental house and filed bankruptcy – for the second time!  I think a lot of people are doing that.
  Chrissey            

My sister-in-law didn’t pay their mortgage and paid their credit cards instead so she could shop more!!!  They need DR, but sadly she won’t change her ways and my brother-in-law won’t stand up to her.  Crazy!!!! “Utter ridiculousness” is what I would say LOL To say that a person won’t pay their mortgage to pay their credit card debt is absurd.
  Sharon H.
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She will change when she is homeless.
Hopefully they don’t move in with you.