Home foreclosures in the United States increased by more than 21 percent in the third quarter of 2011, a partial product of banks moving aggressively after being cleared to resume processing foreclosures after a months-long suspension to allow for a review period.

Cincinnati foreclosure defense lawyers have noted from news reports that several major financial institutions, including Wells Fargo and Bank of America Corp, were investigated at the end of 2010 when customers complained of poor paperwork practices and other procedures that facilitated foreclosures on homeowners.

Now banks appear to be attempting to play catch-up. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which produced the report on foreclosures, said another factor is that banks have run out of options for handling serious delinquent mortgages without resorting to foreclosures. Many mortgages that were seriously delinquent during the foreclosure suspension period only sunk deeper into delinquency.

Still, improvements in the home mortgage market are being seen in contrast to the end of 2010. Foreclosures in the third quarter of 2011 dropped 11.8 percent from the previous year.

In addition, the OCC report revealed that on-time mortgage payments and mortgages that are current have remained steady from the previous quarter. Of the 32.4 million home loans that were factored in to the home mortgage report, 88 percent of them were found to be current.

Meanwhile, the banking institutions found to have violated proper foreclosure practices are currently negotiating settlement deals.

Source: Reuters "Home foreclosures jump in third quarter" Dec. 21, 2011