Drop in mortgage defaults

Mortgage loan defaults in California have plunged to their lowest level in three years as lenders try to work to keep troubled borrowers in their homes, a research firm said Wednesday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Notices of default - the first step in the foreclosure process - fell from 124,562 in the second quarter of 2009 to 70,051 in the comparable period this year, a 44 percent drop, said San Diego-based MDA DataQuick. Defaults also declined 14 percent from 81,054 in the first quarter.

The totals stand in sharp contrast to the high of 135,431 notices that lenders filed against delinquent borrowers from January through March 2009 as the fallout from the mortgage meltdown pulled the country into recession.