Legislative reporter Betsy Z. Russell helps you keep an eye on the happenings in your state capital - from government and politics to court cases and southern Idaho oddities. ...
Idaho Department of Finance Director Gavin Gee said today that state-chartered banks and credit unions in Idaho are safe and sound, at a time when large financial institutions elsewhere are experiencing significant problems related to mortgage defaults. Idaho commercial banks and savings institutions continued to outperform the nation during the first quarter 2008 and reported higher levels of capital, higher profitability, and lower non-performing loans and net charge-offs than institutions nationwide, Gee announced in a statement. The percentage of Idaho mortgage delinquencies for the first quarter of 2008, 3.62 percent, is down from the fourth quarter 2007 figure of 3.86 percent. For the full year of 2007, mortgage delinquencies were lower than 10 of the past 20 years. Idaho ranked better than 44 other states in percentage of mortgage loans seriously delinquent (90 days plus) or in foreclosure, he reported. ( Full post ) ...