The delinquent loan inventory at two of the nation's largest private mortgage insurers continued to shrink in January, albeit by small amounts, according to data released by both companies.
For Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., Milwaukee, the month started out with 214,724 delinquent loans.
There were 17,229 new delinquency notices issued by mortgage servicers during the month.
But this was offset by 12,536 cures, 4,447 loans where MGIC paid claims (including those charged to a deductible or captive reinsurance arrangement) and rescissions and denials on 1,110 loans.
This reduced the inventory to 213,860, a difference of 864 loans.
Philadelphia-based Radian Guaranty Inc., started January with a delinquent loan inventory of 125,470. New notices of delinquency added 9,030 loans to the total.
Cures for the month were 6,653. Radian paid claims (including those charged to a deductible or captive reinsurance arrangement) on 2,134 loans during the month, while rescissions and denial took another 324 loans out of the inventory.
This reduced the delinquency inventory by 81 loans to 125,389.
The companies also disclosed new insurance written for January. For MGIC it was $1.2 billion and for Radian it was $1.1 billion.
In an interview with Radian Group chief executive S.A. Ibrahim done after the 2010 results were released but before this data came out, he noted January is typically a tough month for mortgage insurers in terms of delinquencies, and the continued reduction in the company's inventory is good news.
