Foreclosure rates among Valley homeowners with mortgages continued to creep upward in January, as the proportion of borrowers who are 90 days or more behind in their payments grows.

First American CoreLogic, a real-estate research firm, reports that almost 4% of mortgage loans in Fresno County were in foreclosure in January. That's up by about 1.5 percentage points from a year ago.

In the meantime, more than 13% of mortgage borrowers are three months past due in their payments -- that's up from about 8% a year ago.

The 90-day figure includes mortgages that are in some stage of foreclosure. In Tulare County, the figures are similar to those in Fresno.

But to the north, in Merced County, the numbers continue to be much bleaker. The research indicates that the foreclosure rate among active mortgages there is about 6.6%. That's up from 4.8% a year ago. And the number of borrowers who are getting deeper in trouble is also growing. About 19.6%, or almost one in five, are at least 90 days behind. Both figures are more than double the national rate.

Up and down the Valley, both foreclosures and 90-day delinquents are higher than the state and national averages.

In California, 3.75% of mortgages are at some stage of foreclosure, and 11.64% are at least three months behind. Across the U.S., the foreclosure rate is 3.19% and the 90-day delinquency rate is 8.66%.

Figures were not available in Kings or Madera counties.