January 4 2010 (Shirley Allen)

California, New York, Florida, Maryland, and Massachusetts are among the nation’s slowest to refer for foreclosure according to information released by LPS Applied Analytics. In California, the typical foreclosure takes approximately one year from the time the borrower missed their third payment until the loan was referred for foreclosure.

Along with that, Anthony Renzi, executive vice president of Single-Family Portfolio Management at Freddie Mac, released some interesting facts today about Freddie Mac in his Executive Perspective Blog on Freddie’s website:

1. Freddie Mac owns or guarantees about 12.4 million single-family mortgages. Less than 500,000 of these loans are seriously delinquent (i.e., 90 days or more behind on payments). So while we account for some 23 percent of the market, we account for only about 10 percent of the serious delinquencies.

2. We pay the loan servicing industry about $5 billion per year to service our loans. We offer additional financial incentives for servicers to avoid foreclosure.

3. Through the first nine months of 2010, nearly 211,000 delinquent borrowers with Freddie Mac loans avoided foreclosure. That’s almost double the 114,000 foreclosures that took place.

4. We expect servicers to treat borrowers fairly, with respect, and in full compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and Freddie Mac policies. We have taken action when servicers have not complied.

5. Borrowers are not being rushed through the foreclosure process. It takes 449 days, on average, to complete a foreclosure on a Freddie Mac loan. In these foreclosures, borrowers had been behind on their payments for an average of more than a year.

6. Lengthy foreclosure delays impose losses on Freddie Mac and taxpayers: $10,000-$15,000 per year for every defaulted loan.

7. Freddie Mac gives servicers the authority to stop or suspend a foreclosure action whenever there is opportunity for an alternative, such as a loan workout, short sale, or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. Our servicers have had this authority for more than 20 years – and they know we’re committed to avoiding foreclosure.

See the map below to see how long it takes your state to foreclose on homes:

Information (map) provided by LPS Applied Analytics

Tags: foreclosure, state foreclosure rates, freddie mac, single-family mortgages, borrowers mortgage loans, delinquent borrowers, loans