Industry’s Past-Due Mortgages Continue to Drop

How many homeowners in the United States are behind on their mortgage payments? It's 6,373,000, according to ""Lender Processing Services"":http://www.lpsvcs.com (LPS).

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The number is staggering, but it's actually on the decline, down from 6,397,000 as of the end of August, and 6,538,000 at the end of July.

LPS offered the media an advance look at the high-level numbers from its mortgage performance report due out later this month.

The company's data, which is derived from its loan-level database of nearly 40 million mortgage loans, provides evidence that servicers are pushing those loans that have been languishing in non-payment status through the pipeline at a faster pace.

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At September month-end, the national mortgage delinquency rate â€" which includes loans 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure â€" stood at 8.09 percent. That’s down 0.5 percent from the previous month and 12.7 percent from a year earlier.

At the same time, the foreclosure inventory rate â€" which LPS calculates as loans that have been referred to an attorney but have not yet reached the final stage of foreclosure sale â€" rose to 4.18 percent in September, up 1.7 percent from August and up 8.9 percent from September of last year.

The same trend of a declining delinquency rate and rising foreclosure rate was reported last month as well.

Of the 6,373,000 mortgage going unpaid in the United States, LPS says approximately 2,172,000 are part of the foreclosure pre-sale inventory.

The remaining 4,202,000 are 30-plus days delinquent but not yet in foreclosure. Of these, 1,844,000 are past due by 90 days or more.

According to LPS’ September study, the five states with highest percentage of non-current loans â€" which combines foreclosures and delinquencies â€" have held onto their rankings for three consecutive months. These include: Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, and Illinois.

States with the lowest percentage of non-current loans include: Montana, Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota.