Mortgage Default Update: Homeowners Staying in Homes Longer

More than 7.3 million home loans are in some state of delinquency or foreclosure, and there's no end in sight. That's because the number of homeowners who are 90 days or more delinquent jumped 9.2 percent in May 2010 over May 2009, according to the Mortgage Monitor Report from Lender Processing Services (LPS).

When you add that to the inventory of home foreclosures (3.18 percent), 12.38 percent of homeowners are at risk of losing their homes.

In 12 states the delinquency rate is even higher -- over 10 percent. These include Nevada (14.5 percent), Mississippi (14 percent), Georgia (12.3 percent), Florida (11.2 percent), Arizona (11 percent), California (10.8 percent), Rhode Island (10.6 percent), Tennessee (10.6 percent), Alabama (10.5 percent), Michigan (10.4 percent), Louisiana (10.3 percent), and West Virginia (10.3 percent).

The good news, if you can call it that, is that people in trouble are able to stay in their homes longer -- even if they do default on a mortgage.