Americans Begin Paying Credit Cards First, Mortgages Second [CHART]

The recession has forced many struggling families across the country to confront a difficult decision: pay off credit card bills or make mortgage payments.

Before the downturn, Americans predominately opted to stay current on their mortgages before tackling other nagging debts. This pattern, however, has changed. More U.S. borrowers are choosing to pay credit card bills and let mortgage payments run delinquent, according to reports by TransUnion, a credit management company.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, 7.24 percent of U.S. homeowners were mortgage-delinquent and credit card-current. While that's down from 7.40 percent in the third quarter, it remains "72 percent higher than it was at the beginning of the Great Recession," notes Sean Reardon, the author of the study and a consultant in TransUnion's analytics and decisioning services business unit.