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This is great news and every hopes it will continue. If you or a loved one is facing foreclosure or is overwhelmed with debt call the Law Offices of Brian R Lewis. Our experienced bankruptcy lawyers can help you keep our home and get a fresh start.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Foreclosure filings nationwide fell for the 22nd straight month in July, but a spike in new foreclosures indicates that the housing market still has a long way to go before it works through its backlog of problem loans.

In July, foreclosure filings — including notices of default, scheduled auctions or actual bank repossessions — were reported on just under 192,000 properties, down 3% from the previous month and 10% lower than last year, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties.

However, foreclosure starts — the earliest stage of the foreclosure process when delinquent borrowers first receive notices that they are in default — rose 6% on a year-over-year basis. July marked the third straight month that foreclosure starts have increased on an annual basis.

The new wave of foreclosure filings come in the aftermath of the $25 billion foreclosure settlement, which laid out how the banks could atone for years of abusing the foreclosure process — including robo-signing. It set firm guidelines for how banks should handle foreclosures and gave them more confidence to start processing foreclosure filings they had previously delayed, said Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac spokesman.