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80 Illinois RANK: 8 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 2.37% 2.16% 6.4 YEAR AGO 2.62% 3.66% 9 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -9.5% -40.9% -2.6 Top County HANCOCK COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 4.20% 9.27% YEAR AGO 4.78% 5.88% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -12.3% 57.7% Top Core-Based Statistical Area LINCOLN, IL 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 3.23% 4.38% YEAR AGO 3.36% 6.55% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -3.9% -33.2% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the November 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary November 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. IN THE NEWS MERS Wins Victory in Illinois Court Over Authority to Act as Mortgagee An Illinois court ruled on Tuesday that mortgages naming Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) as the mortgagee are valid and enforceable, accord- ing to an announcement from MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. In the case of CitiMortgage, Inc. v. Schak, Judge Mitchell L. Hoffman on the Circuit Court of the 19th Judicial Circuit Court for Lake County, Illinois, rejected a borrower's claim that a mortgage naming MERS as the mortgagee was invalid because MERS is not licensed under the Illinois Residential Mortgage License Act. Hoffman's ruling was that MERS not being licensed under the act was not sufficient grounds for declaring the mortgage void and unenforceable. MERS was named as the mortgagee on the mortgage at the time it was originated. e borrowers had filed a motion to vacate the summary judgment and the order that approved the sale of the foreclosed property. e judge used as legal precedent the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Union County, Illinois v. MERSCORP, Inc. from January 2013 that the requirements of the Illinois Residential Mortgage Act, which was passed in 1987, do not apply to MERS because it "does not engage in the acts of brokering, funding, originating, servicing, or purchasing residential mortgage loans." "We are pleased that this Court recognizes that MERS has not done anything contrary to what is required by Illinois law and that mortgages naming MERS as the mortgagee are valid and enforceable," said Janis Smith, MERSCORP Holdings vice president for Corporate Communications. MERS has won victories in courts in several states in the last year over borrow- ers facing foreclosure who challenged the company's authority to act as mortgagee, in- cluding Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio, New Hampshire, Montana, Idaho, Arkansas, and Texas. Indiana RANK: 19 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 2.69% 1.72% 5.7 YEAR AGO 2.79% 2.45% 6.9 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -3.7% -29.8% -1.2 Top County BENTON COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 1.49% 4.14% YEAR AGO 2.81% 4.59% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -46.9% -9.8% Top Core-Based Statistical Area BEDFORD, IN 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 5.02% 3.08% YEAR AGO 4.40% 4.11% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 14.1% -25.1% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the November 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary November 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. Iowa RANK: 27 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 1.54% 1.33% 4.3 YEAR AGO 1.51% 2.04% 4.2 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 2.2% -34.7% 0.1 Top County FRANKLIN COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 3.60% 3.41% YEAR AGO 2.18% 4.65% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 65.2% -26.8% Top Core-Based Statistical Area FORT MADISON-KEOKUK, IA-IL-MO 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 2.96% 4.59% YEAR AGO 2.67% 3.08% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 10.7% 49.0% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the November 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary November 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. Kansas RANK: 32 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 2.11% 1.01% 4.3 YEAR AGO 2.15% 1.33% 5 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -1.9% -23.9% -0.7 Top County LABETTE COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 4.19% 4.48% YEAR AGO 2.92% 3.67% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 43.5% 22.2% Top Core-Based Statistical Area PARSONS, KS 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 4.19% 4.48% YEAR AGO 2.92% 3.67% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 43.5% 22.2% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the November 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary November 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics.