Serious U.S. mortgage delinquencies up 20 pct

* Serious delinquencies up from prior quarter, year

* Many loans modified under HAMP, but few permanent

By Kim Dixon

WASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Serious delinquencies among
U.S. prime mortgages rose nearly 20 percent in the third
quarter from the prior quarter, as the percentage of current
and performing mortgages fell for the sixth consecutive
quarter, banking regulators said on Monday.

The report by the Office of Comptroller of the Currency and
the Office of Thrift Supervision, which are part of the
Treasury Department, covered about two-thirds of all U.S.
mortgages.

It found 3.6 percent of prime mortgages -- those made to
the most credit-worthy borrowers -- were seriously delinquent
in the third quarter. That was more than double the year-ago
quarter and up nearly 20 percent from the 2009 second quarter.

The report defined "serious delinquencies" as those loans
60 days or more past due and loans to delinquent bankrupt
borrowers.

Big U.S. banks and thrifts carried out 2.4 million home
loan modifications, trial period plans or payment plans in the
quarter, spurred mostly by a government plan offered by
President Barack Obama, according to the report.

Most came from the government's Home Affordable
Modification Program. Mortgage servicers carried out 274,000
trial plans in the third quarter, up 240 percent from the
second quarter when the plan was launched.

But only 1 percent of those had been converted to permanent
modifications as of Sept. 30, 2009, the report said.

A major cause of this disconnect is that loan servicers
are finding that many borrowers who initially appear to qualify
for the program do not, according to the report.

The Treasury Department has been pressuring lenders and
mortgage servicers to do more to ease the harm from rising
foreclosures.

Loan modifications made outside the new aid program fell in
the third quarter by nearly 8 percent, the report said.
(Reporting by Kim Dixon, editing by Matthew Lewis)