Overdue Mortgages Number 6,082,000

New data from ""Lender Processing Services"":http://www.lpsvcs.com (LPS) shows that as of the end of January, there were 6,082,000 mortgages in the U.S. going unpaid. That tally includes loans that are 30 or more days delinquent and loans in foreclosure.
[IMAGE] LPS' mortgage performance statistics are derived from its loan-level database of nearly 40 million mortgage loans.

The national mortgage delinquency rate as of January month-end was 7.97 percent. LPS determines the delinquency rate as a measurement of all loans behind by at least one payment, excluding those already in the process of foreclosure.

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The delinquency rate registered a decline, both for the month and the year, with January's rate down 2.2 percent from December 2011 and down 10.5 percent from January 2011.

The total foreclosure inventory rate hit 4.15 percent last month â€" up 1.1 percent compared to December 2011, but down a slight 0.1 percent when comparing year-over-year numbers.

According to LPS’ report, there were 2,084,000 properties that were counted as part of the foreclosure inventory last month.

The number of properties with mortgages 30 or more days past due but not yet referred to a foreclosure attorney tallied 3,998,000. Of these, 1,772,000 had been delinquent for 90 days or longer.

LPS says Florida had the highest percentage of non-current mortgages last month, followed by Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, and Illinois.

Non-current totals combine foreclosures and delinquencies as a percent of all active loans in that state.

States with the lowest percentage of non-current loans in January included Montana, Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota.