WORTH NOTING

*in the midst of what commentators are labeling (not me of course) a bear market turn around for the ages, Standard and Poor puts out the grim mortgage delinquency news below.

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Standard & Poor's said delinquencies of home-related loans climbed in January, with the rate surging in particular from December for home-equity lines of credit and prime-rated jumbo mortgages.

The agency released that month's results for residential mortgage-backed securities created in 2005 through 2007 from the home-equity lines and jumbo mortgages as well as closed-end second liens, Alt-A and subprime loans.

Delinquency rates have been climbing for home-related loans as house prices have fallen - sometimes below the outstanding loan amount. As such, homeowners have had less incentive to keep up with payments.

The delinquency rates for jumbo loans - the minimum of which is $417,000 - delinquency rates remained relatively low overall, ranging from 7.2% to 7.8%. But they posted sizable increases from December, with the rate on 2005 loans soaring 26% in one month.

The increase on home-equity lines ranged from 9.2% to 15%, with overall delinquency rates of 12.5% to 17.5%.
S&P said the smallest month-to-month increase as of the January distribution date was subprime mortgages, which the biggest amount of behind loans, on a percentage basis, are. But the delinquency rates rose no more than 5.2% for the three years. The delinquency rates, though, still range from 42% of current total pool balances for 2005 to 49% for 2007.

The sequential gain for closed-end second liens and Alt-A were slightly higher than subprime. But there too, delinquency rates are already high, nearly 20% for the second liens and above that for Alt-A loans. The 2006 rate is 33%.

-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5975; Kathy.Shwiff@dowjones.com