AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Foreclosure filings launched by state-chartered banks are continuing to drop below recession-era levels.
Maine's financial institutions began reporting a noticeable increase in foreclosure filings in 2008.
A recent state report found Maine's state-chartered banks and credit unions held 74,000 first-lien mortgages at the end of 2016. Of those, 183 were in the process of foreclosure.
That's the lowest level in eight years.
The state Bureau of Financial Institutions says it's been surveying the 31 state-chartered banks and credit unions about foreclosure activity since 2006. That doesn't include federally-chartered banks and credit unions and licensed mortgage companies.
The number of completed foreclosures actually increased in 2016. But the state bureau said it's not concerning and may have been a result of earlier confusion about the foreclosure activity process that caused delays.