News release: “The credit quality of first-lien mortgages serviced by large national banks and thrifts remained steady during the third quarter of 2010, but the pace of foreclosures increased, according to a report released today. The quarterly report by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision showed that 87.4 percent of the 33.3 million loans in the portfolio were current and performing at the end of the third quarter of 2010, a level unchanged from the previous quarter. Although the percentage of seriously delinquent mortgages (60 or more days delinquent or delinquent loans to bankrupt borrowers) decreased by 6.4 percent from the previous quarter, the percentage of mortgages that were 30 to 59 days delinquent increased by 4.3 percent. Foreclosures increased during the third quarter, reflecting the large number of seriously delinquent borrowers moving through the foreclosure process after servicers exhausted home retention options.The number of new foreclosures increased to more than 382,000—31.2 percent more than in the previous quarter and 3.7 percent more than a year earlier. The number of foreclosures in process increased to 1.2 million—4.5 percent more than in the previous quarter and 10.1 percent more than a year earlier. The number of completed foreclosures also increased to nearly 187,000—14.7 percent more than in the previous quarter and 57.5 percent more than a year earlier.”