Like other cities in Florida, the Orlando market saw tremendous demand from investors during the first half of the previous decade. Some were looking to cash in on the appreciating market through short-term property flipping, while others were buying properties for vacation homes.

Although the market attracted interest from buyers in the Midwest and Northeast, condo developers also marketed developments specifically to foreign buyers, particularly in the United Kingdom, says Jack McCabe, CEO of McCabe Research & Consulting.

“It’s almost like [the British] were setting up another colony in the United States,” McCabe says. Abetted by easy credit, such demand helped send home prices surging by more than 102 percent from 2002 to the market’s peak in 2006. But the subsequent crash has been painful.

The nearly 48 percent drop from the peak through the third quarter of 2009 has pulled 58 percent of single-family home mortgages in Orlando underwater, according to Zillow. And McCabe isn’t optimistic about a quick rebound. “For the condo or condo conversion owner, literally they may carry them out feet first before they ever see that property reach 2006 values,” he says.

Greeley, Colo.

With 45 percent of single-family mortgages underwater, the Greeley, Colo., market has among the higher concentrations of negative equity in the nation. The predicament is rooted in an increase in smaller homes built during the first half of the previous decade that were purchased with risky, subprime mortgages, says Randy Moser, the president of the Greeley Area Realtor Association.

“If you had a 550 credit score, you could maybe even get 110 percent financing [and] roll in your closing costs,” he says. But after many of these buyers began falling behind on their payments, area foreclosures surged, and home prices fell about 15 percent through the third quarter of 2009. “We were probably one of the first counties in the United States that went into the foreclosure mess,” Moser says.

Bend, Ore.

From 2002 to early 2007, home prices in Bend, Ore., jumped by 99 percent, as second-home buyers and retirees were drawn to this community. But after the housing bubble popped and economy eroded, home prices have slumped some 32 percent through the third quarter of 2009. “We are seeing homes that people bought for $2.5 million now selling for under $1 million,” says Kathy Ragsdale, the CEO of the Central Oregon Association of Realtors.

Ragsdale says the initial phase of the downturn was triggered by evaporating demand from second-home buyers. But more recently, as unemployment has surged, many residents have found themselves unable to make their mortgage payments. Today, more than half of the residential property transactions in Bend are distressed sales, Ragsdale says.

“It’s huge when somebody stands up in a meeting and says, ‘I have a home for sale, and by the way, it’s not a short sale,’ ” she says. As of the fourth quarter of last year, roughly 41 percent of single-family home mortgages were underwater, according to Zillow.

Minneapolis-St. Paul

Although this area is far removed from the cities most closely associated with the housing bubble, home prices in Minneapolis-St. Paul inflated significantly in the early part of the previous decade. Real estate values increased nearly 34 percent from 2002 to 2006. Brad Fisher, the president of the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, says subprime lending played a key role.

“Outside of the coasts, the Minneapolis-St. Paul area was one of the higher areas [of] subprime loans,” Fisher says. “We have paid a price because of that.” The subsequent 29 percent price decline through the third quarter of 2009 pulled nearly 39 percent of single-family home mortgages underwater by the fourth quarter of 2009, according to Zillow.

Memphis

Home prices in Memphis didn’t surge as aggressively as other markets during the boom. But pockets of subprime mortgages–coupled with a modest slump in prices over the past three years–have created a notable concentration of negative equity. Real estate values increased about 12 percent from 2002 to 2006, but prices then fell nearly 18 percent through the third quarter of 2009.

And as of the fourth quarter of last year, roughly a third of all single-family home mortgages were underwater, according to Zillow. Glenn Moore, the president of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors, argues that the negative equity is concentrated in a small part of the overall market. “It is limited to mostly suburban areas and maybe some areas where there was maybe some predatory lending going on,” Moore says.

Cleveland

Home prices in Cleveland increased 13 percent from 2002 to 2006 but then fell nearly 16 percent through the third quarter of 2009. “There was a little bit of overinvestment in housing, and the economy started weakening,” says Celia Chen of Moody’s Economy.com. “[Cleveland] entered recession before the rest of the U.S., and I think weak economic conditions have pulled down home prices.”

Exposure to subprime lending has also played a role in the real estate market’s decline. Roughly 32 percent of single-family home mortgages were underwater as of the fourth quarter of last year, according to Zillow.

Grand Rapids, Mich.

Real estate values in Grand Rapids, Mich., increased 15 percent from 2002 to 2005 and then fell about 13 percent through the third quarter of last year. As of the fourth quarter of 2009, roughly 29 percent of single-family home mortgages were underwater, according to Zillow. The weakness in the housing market is linked to the area’s deteriorating economy, Chen says.

All of this could influence your financial freedom—not to mention the number of junk-mail solicitations you receive.

Ken Lin, CEO of Credit Karma, a credit-score information website, knew he had a good credit score. But when he recently applied for a new credit card, he was rejected: The lender had flagged him as a higher credit risk because the value of his California home had declined and his mortgage principal wasn’t declining—giving away that he has an interest-only mortgage.

“It’s a lot more than just your credit score today,” he says.

Your credit record still matters, of course. But here are some newer ways lenders and financial-services companies are sizing up your financial behavior and credit-worthiness:

Bank-Depositor Behavior Scores

Fair Isaac, the creator of the widely used FICO (NYSE: FICO – News) credit score, is marketing bank-depositor behavior scores, which are used by banks to assess their own customers.

The scores are based on balances, deposit records and withdrawal activity, says Debb Gordon, a senior principal consultant at Fair Isaac.

Unlike credit scores—which are most affected after payments are late or credit is maxed out—behavior scores can be a leading indicator of credit risk. They also can help banks identify which of their customers might be ripe for additional services and rewards programs and which might need special attention because, for instance, their direct deposits had stopped.

Income Estimation

This business took off earlier this year after the Federal Reserve allowed lenders to use credit bureaus’ income estimates to satisfy new requirements that credit-card applicants show the ability to pay their debts.

The bureaus use credit-record information, such as the size of your credit lines and the age and size of your mortgage, and plug it into models to predict your earnings. Those estimates also may be used to double-check the income you report on credit applications or to determine if you should be preapproved for credit.

You can’t see those estimates. But if you are denied credit because of them, you must be given a chance to provide additional information.

Rent Payments

An estimated 40 million consumers, including young people and people who prefer to pay in cash, have too little credit experience to generate a useful credit score. But they are likely to pay rent or utility bills, which could help credit bureaus better assess their credit-worthiness.

Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, bought RentBureau—which collects rental-payment data from large property managers—and expects to integrate that information into credit records before the end of the year.

Even if those consumers don’t want credit, that information could help them win better rates from insurers, which may use insurance scores based on credit records, and fatten up thin credit files, which some employers check before making hiring decisions.

Credit bureaus say they also would like to offer data on cellphone payments, but have run into concerns over privacy issues, which may require legislation to untangle.

Collection Triggers

If you owe money, you can run, but you can’t hide. Credit bureaus can now send daily reports to collection companies when a debtor’s financial status changes—say, if new employment information appears or if a debt starts to decline. A drop in credit use would indicate that the consumer has more capacity to pay and a better chance of repaying other outstanding debts.

Home Values

As home values have plummeted and foreclosures have soared in many states, lenders of all stripes have become more cautious, as Mr. Lin found. Using home values as a factor in credit decisions doesn’t appear to be widespread, but it may come into play when someone in, say, Nevada or California applies for a new loan. Of course, it also could work in your favor if you are one of the roughly 25 million Americans who owns a home outright.

Your Wealth

Information about your assets other than homes and cars, which aren’t part of the credit record, may soon play a bigger role in your financial life. With a better sense of a consumer’s balance sheet, lenders might be able to target potential customers better and also have a fuller sense of their likely risk. Equifax, another of the big three credit bureaus, offers financial-service providers an estimate of liquid wealth as part of a financial “suite” of information.

As all of this becomes a widespread practice, those who are prompt and careful in all aspects of their financial life may have more options—and those who have been sloppy with, say, their bank accounts may be penalized for that.

After stocks and the euro took a tumble this week on the announcement that credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s was downgrading Greece’s credit rating to junk status, new calls have gone out for ratings agencies to act “responsibly” and for the creation of an independent European rating agency.

But responsibility is not a word that has been associated with credit ratings agencies much in the wake of the global financial crisis, especially after it emerged that the business practices of the big three US ratings firms – Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch – played a central role in helping bring about the economic meltdown.

“We should not make the welfare of Europe dependent on ratings agencies,” Peter Bofinger, a member of the German government’s independent economic advisory panel, told the newspaper Die Welt.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who called for a European credit rating agency, said rating agencies must not develop, sell and rate financial products at the same time.

“Conflicts of interest are guaranteed,” he said.

A top International Monetary Fund official questioned the agencies’ accuracy, arguing that that their assessments reflect mainly investors’ perceptions of a nation’s financial health.

“That’s why you shouldn’t believe too much in what they say,” IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said last week.

But according to Manfred Jäger-Ambrozewicz of the Cologne Institute of Business Research, government regulators and governments themselves, who also depend on ratings agencies analysis, have played a role in the increase of the agencies’ influence.

“It’s kind of ridiculous that they’ve turned on them now,” he told Deutsche Welle. “They are the ones who have largely given them so much power.”

He added that the creation of a new European ratings agency would be possible, but that agencies are built on their reputations, and it would take some time for a brand-new ratings entity to become credible.

“But if in addition to the private rating we had something from a semi-state agency or a rating by a body like the IMF or the European Central Bank, that could be helpful,” Jäger-Ambrozewicz said.

Later this year, new EU rules which were hammered out last year will apply some regulation on already-existing agencies that operate in Europe.

The rules, which go into effect in December, will oblige the agencies to disclose information about the models and methods on which their ratings are based and require adherence to new corporate governance standards meant to guard against potential conflicts of interest.