Debt Collectors Pursuing More than 14 percent of Americans

http://www.insidearm.com/news/00040202-debt-collectors-pursuing-more-than-14-per/

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday that more than 14 percent of American consumers have an account that has gone into the third party debt collection market.

In its “Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit,” the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) said that in the fourth quarter of 2011, 14.29 percent of Americans were in collection, the second-highest rate ever recorded (after 14.38 percent in the second quarter of 2011).

The average balance of accounts being pursued by third party debt collectors hit an all-time high of $1,437 in the fourth quarter.