According to DSNews.com and Lender Processing Services (LPS), by the end of January there were 6,082,000 mortgages in the U.S. going unpaid.  That tally includes loans that are 30 or more days delinquent and loans in foreclosure.

The national mortgage delinquency rate as of January month-end was 7.97 percent.  The delinquency rate registered a decline, both for the month and the year, with January’s rate down 2.2 percent from December 2011 and down 10.5 percent from January 2011.

The total foreclosure inventory rate hit 4.15 percent last month – up 1.1 percent compared to December 2011, but down a slight 0.1 percent when comparing year-over-year numbers.

According to LPS’ report, there were 2,084,000 properties that were counted as part of the foreclosure inventory last month.

The number of properties with mortgages 30 or more days past due but not yet referred to a foreclosure attorney tallied 3,998,000. Of these, 1,772,000 had been delinquent for 90 days or longer.

States with the lowest percentage of non-current loans in January included Montana, Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota.