Credit card late payments down, home equity late payments up

In this good news/bad news story from the AP, the bad outweighs the good. They're reporting that late payments are down for credit cards, which is good news, but late payments are up for home equity loans, which is very bad news.

Home equity loans should be put up front with your mortgage in terms of priority. Any loan that could cost you your home if you have a delinquency should be paid well before any unsecured credit card bills you may have. And certainly, if you're in a position where you might have trouble paying your mortgage and/or home equity loan payments, you shouldn't be incurring credit card debt at all.