Foreclosure filings down 12% in September

New state laws that require loan servicers to give advance notice before filing a notice of default helped push down foreclosure-related filings by 12 percent nationwide in September, data aggregator RealtyTrac said today.California, which accounts for nearly one-third of foreclosure activity, passed legislation that took effect in September requiring lenders to make contact with borrowers 30 days before filing a notice of default. Notices of default in California dropped 51 percent in September, with a corresponding "significant impact" on national numbers, RealtyTrac said. RealtyTrac said notices of default fell 66 percent in North Carolina, a state that now requires lenders to provide homeowners and the state commissioner of banks 45 days' advance warning of plans to file a notice of default.Lenders file notices of default as the first step in the foreclosure process, in most cases after borrowers fail to make two or more payments. A notice of default starts the clock tick...