A new community group released a report Tuesday showing a dramatic concentration of foreclosures in several Cincinnati neighborhoods and some Hamilton County municipalities.

        Citizens Against Loan Sharks say the study shows more than half of Hamilton County's 2,363 home forfeitures from Sept. 11, 2000, to March 11, 2002, were in Cincinnati. County municipalities Colerain Township, Springfield Township and Forest Park each had in excess of 100 foreclosures.

        The group wants city and county leaders to monitor the foreclosure trend, including providing loan data such as interest rates, points and fees to determine whether aggressive lending tactics are to blame.

        Working in Neighborhoods, Communities United for Action and other community groups collected the data through the Cincinnati Court Index after noticing an increase in vacant homes in city neighborhoods. On one Northside street there were seven foreclosed homes, said Barbara Busch, executive director of Working in Neighborhoods.

        The trend threatens to undo modest gains in the city's 38.9 percent home ownership rate.

        Ms. Busch acknowledges that the study, culled from sheriff's sale data over the last 18 months, is incomplete. While it tracks banks that made the greatest number of loans that resulted in foreclosure, it doesn't say whether those loans are “predatory” with high interest rates or other unfavorable terms.

        For instance, the group found Bank One Corp. and its subsidiaries foreclosed on 172 loans over the 18-month period — the largest number in Hamilton County. That was followed by U.S. Bancorp, 119; Bank of America, 118; and Wells Fargo & Co., 114.

        Yet the study doesn't indicate whether those bank repurchased loans made by other lenders.

        “It is our intention to work with these banks to look at these loans as well as to get the county to provide the information that we need to find out why this is occuring,” Ms. Busch said.

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