Terms and disclaimer

Who we are

americandefault.org is published by American Default Research. We track how American households are doing with their money: we publish the American Distress Index, state and county scores, indicator pages built from public data, and general guides about money trouble such as falling behind on a mortgage, foreclosure and debt collection.

You can reach us at contact@americandefault.org about anything on the site, or at privacy@americandefault.org about your information.

General information, not advice

Everything on this site is general information. It isn't legal, financial, tax, credit or real estate advice, and it isn't advice about your situation. Reading the site, using a tool on it or writing to us doesn't make you our client, and it doesn't create an attorney-client, counselor or fiduciary relationship with anyone.

Laws and programs vary by state and change often. A guide can explain how something usually works; it can't tell you what will happen in your case. Before you act, talk with a lawyer or a free HUD-approved housing counselor. HUD's referral line is 1-800-569-4287. If you can't afford a lawyer, LawHelp.org lists free legal aid by state, and our directory lists housing counselors, credit counselors and legal aid near you.

Who we are not

We are not a law firm, a lender, a loan servicer, a debt-relief company, a credit counseling agency, a HUD-approved housing counseling agency or a government agency. We aren't affiliated with HUD, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHA, the VA or any lender. We quote and link to those agencies often because they publish the facts; that doesn't mean they approve of us or of anything we say.

We don't negotiate with lenders, and we don't speak for you to your lender, a court or anyone else. Keep talking with the company you pay your mortgage to.

What we never promise

We don't promise or predict outcomes. Nothing on this site says you will qualify for a program, keep your home, get a loan changed or have a debt forgiven, and nothing says how long a lender, a court or an agency will take. Where a guide gives a typical timeline, it's a general pattern that varies by state and by case.

Our data

Every number we publish traces to a named source. Our methodology explains how the indexes are built, and our sources page lists where the data comes from and how often it updates. Agencies revise their data, and when they do, our figures change too. Forecasts and projections are labeled as ours.

If you think something is wrong, tell us at press@americandefault.org. Our editorial standards explain how we correct errors.

No warranty, and limits on liability

We work to keep the site accurate and sourced, but we can't guarantee it. The site and everything on it are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including any warranty of accuracy, completeness, timeliness, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement.

To the fullest extent the law allows, American Default Research isn't liable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, that comes from using the site, from relying on anything published on it, or from the site being unavailable. Some states don't allow some of these limits, so some of them may not apply to you.

Reusing our work

Our analysis, charts and derived data are free to reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0). Credit American Default Research and link to the page you used. Our editorial standards give the citation format, and the research page has the downloads.

The data we draw on keeps its own terms. In particular, data that comes through FRED, the St. Louis Fed's data service, may not be used to train AI or machine-learning models. Our name and logo aren't covered by the license: you can name us as your source, but please don't use them in a way that suggests we endorse you.

Links to other sites

We link to agencies, courts, legal aid groups, counselors and news reports so you can check what we say and find help. We don't control those sites and aren't responsible for what they say or do. A link or a listing in our directory isn't an endorsement, and nobody pays us to be linked or listed.

How we pay for this

The public data and the guides are free, and they stay open. We don't sell the public datasets, and we don't run ads. Organizations can ask us about paid work, such as custom data work or partnerships, but that never decides which data we publish or how we describe it.

Newsletter and emails

If you sign up for our newsletter, we send occasional email about our data and analysis. It's sent through Buttondown. Every email has a link to unsubscribe, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Privacy

Our privacy policy explains what the site collects, why, and how to ask us to see or delete it.

How content is made

Some of our content is drafted with the help of AI tools. People review it before it's published, and every number in it still has to trace to a named source.

Accessibility

We want everyone to be able to use the site. Our accessibility statement covers the standard we aim for, the gaps we know about, and how to ask for information in another format.

Using the site

You're welcome to read, download and share what we publish. Automated access is fine as long as it doesn't slow the site down for other people; for bulk data, use the downloads on the research page.

Please don't use the site to break the law, to try to get into parts of it that aren't public, to interfere with how it runs, or to present our work as if it came from a government agency. If you post a comment, you're responsible for what you write. We may remove comments, and we may limit or end access for anyone who misuses the site.

We may update these terms. When we do, we change the date at the top of this page, and the new terms apply from then on. If you have a concern about the site, please write to us first at contact@americandefault.org so we can try to sort it out.