Aug. 21--More than 15 percent of Indiana homeowners with a mortgage had fallen behind on their payments or were in foreclosure at the end of June, as the recession keeps throwing people out of work.

The sobering mortgage delinquency numbers, released Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association, are being driven by borrowers with traditional fixed-rate mortgages, rather than the aggressively marketed subprime loans with adjustable rates that kicked off the mortgage crisis.

The numbers showed rising delinquency rates in the second quarter for the main types of fixed-mortgage loans, including FHA and VA loans.

Indiana homeowners are faring worse than the national average. Nationally, 13.16 percent of homeowners with a mortgage had fallen behind on their payments or were in foreclosure at the end of June. The national number is a record high.

In Indiana, 4.3 percent of all home loans were in foreclosure at the end of June, up from 4.13 percent in March. The delinquency rate was 11.14 percent here, an increase from 9.89 percent in the first quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Nationwide, loan delinquencies among borrowers with prime, fixed-rate mortgages grew from the first quarter to the second in all 50 states, with the biggest jumps in Wisconsin, Illinois, Utah and West Virginia.

One bright spot in Indiana: The share of home loans in the state on which foreclosure was started in the last quarter improved, falling to 1.21 percent from 1.33 percent in the first quarter.

Cindy Pratt, director of counseling at Momentive Consumer Credit Counseling Service in Indianapolis, said the rise in delinquencies was expected, since "unemployment is covering everybody now... where in the beginning of the crisis, what we saw was predatory lending and (adjustable-rate mortgages) -- all of the designer loans, if you will.

"Now what we're seeing is (rising delinquencies for) conventional, traditional-type of loans. And it's because of unemployment."

Pratt said many homeowners wouldn't be helped much by lenders or the government declaring new moratoriums on foreclosures because "there's no guarantee things are on the upswing... Bottom line, if there isn't some income (coming in), there is simply nothing to do. It's heartbreaking."

Nationally and locally, the layoffs keep coming.

Lockheed Martin Corp. said this week it's handing out about 800 pink slips in its space systems division, and audio conferencing company Polycom said it will cut about 80 positions. Kmart is laying off 48 workers in Martinsville. U.S.