Lenders speeding up foreclosures after year of delays

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
9/15/2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

One in 570 homes received a notice during August.

After delays, appeals and sob stories, mortgage lenders sent out default notices to delinquent U.S. homeowners a whopping 33 percent in August. Those figures were considerably higher than the ones in July. RealtyTrac Inc. says that this is a sure sign that lenders are speeding up the foreclosure process after almost a year of delays.

Default notices increased from July by 55 percent in California, 46 percent in Indiana and 42 percent in New Jersey. Nine of 10 metropolitan areas with the highest rate of filings per household also had double-digit increases.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - First-time default notices were filed on 78,880 properties, the most in nine months. Total foreclosure filings, including auction and home-seizure notices were up seven percent from a four-year low in July to 228,098. One in 570 homes received a notice during August.

Foreclosure filings had dropped for an 11th straight month after claims of "robo-signing," or pushing through documents that weren't verified. Those claims prompted an investigation by state attorneys general in October. The jump in default notices from July reveal that banks' paperwork delays are easing even as industry talks to settle the probe continue.

"The industry seems to be hitting the reset button and the logjam may finally be breaking up," Rick Sharga, senior vice president said, adding that foreclosure filings this year have been "artificially low."

Total filings in August dropped 33 percent from a year earlier. Default notices fell 18 percent, while scheduled auctions slid 43 percent from August 2010 and 1 percent from the previous month.

According to RealtyTrac, lenders seized 64,813 properties in August, a four percent decline from the previous month and a 32 percent slump from a year earlier. The jump in default notices means repossessions probably will increase in coming months as more foreclosures are processed.

Default notices increased from July by 55 percent in California, 46 percent in Indiana and 42 percent in New Jersey. Nine of 10 metropolitan areas with the highest rate of filings per household also had double-digit increases.

Scheduled auctions climbed from 51 percent from the previous month in Colorado, 22 percent in Georgia, 20 percent in Arizona and 19 percent in Oregon.

Nevada has the highest foreclosure rate, with one in 118 households hit with a filing. California follows in a close second at one in 226 and Arizona at one in 248. Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, Florida, Illinois, Colorado and Utah rounded out the top 10.

In Las Vegas, where default notices jumped 30 percent from July, one in every 103 households received a foreclosure filing, more than five times the national average.

� 2011, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Keywords: Foreclosures, lenders, mortgages, robo-signing

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1 - 1 of 1 Comments

Rob
1 year ago
This is further proof that our so called free market works perfectly for the little guy, but somehow notice how these banks and wall street firms were left unharmed? Geez, we really need to wake up.

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