According to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the bank owned foreclosure home inventories of 20 of 24 chartered banks in Saint Louis, Missouri have increased in the first quarter, compared to their foreclosure home inventories in last year’s first three months.

The 24 banks collectively posted $139.4 million in foreclosure home inventories in the first quarter, a 48-percent jump from the $94.2 value in last year’s first quarter.

Also, seven banks posted over three percent of their current loans as nonperforming – three months or more in default. In last year’s first quarter, only two banks posted more than three percent in noncurrent loans.

Truman Bank had the highest percentage of noncurrent loans – 10.42 percent. Following is PrivateBank, with 4.2 percent nonperforming loans. The other five banks, namely Business Bank of Saint Louis, Pulaski Bank, Jefferson Bank and Trust, Bank of Washington and Saint Louis Bank, had a noncurrent rate ranging from 3.08 to 3.41 percent.

Meanwhile, Saint Louis regional, national and community banks performed poorly in their lending in the first quarter. Bad loans originated by 24 community banks jumped by a staggering 282 percent in the first quarter compared to last year’s first quarter. Similarly, bad loans provided by six national and regional banks also increased by a staggering 248 percent.

The community banks collectively posted $41.7 million in bad debts in the first quarter, compared to only $10.9 million in last year’s first quarter.

The national and regional banks operating in Saint Louis collectively had $4.9 billion in nonperforming loans, compared to $1.4 billion in last year’s first quarter.

Additionally, 18 community banks posted more nonperforming loans in this year’s first quarter compared to last year’s first quarter. The six national and regional banks operating in Saint Louis posted more noncurrent loans compared to last year’s first quarter.

In the meantime, Marshall & Ilsley, the Milwaukee-based parent firm of Southwest Bank of Saint Louis, has extended for the second time its foreclosure moratorium by three months to September 30 in an effort to help reduce foreclosure home inventories in Saint Louis.

The bank’s first three-month foreclosure moratorium was launched in December 2008 and was extended at the end of March. Only homeowners staying in their homes are qualified for the moratorium.

Marshall & Ilsley’s Homeowners Assistance Program is a foreclosure home prevention program that should be emulated by other mortgage banks to contain foreclosures not only in Saint Louis but in other cities.