One in eight Americans with a mortgage were behind on their payments or already in foreclosure at the end of 2008.

Almost 8% of mortgages were at least 30 days overdue, and more than 3% were in the foreclosure process, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Both of those percentages were the highest ever recorded by the association's quarterly survey.

But what's most alarming about the association's most recent survey of 46 million home loans is that the number of loans 90 days or more past due continues to climb.

Those loans undoubtedly will enter foreclosure if President Obama's foreclosure prevention program, and a number of new bank initiatives, aren't successful.

Almost half of the remaining subprime loans -- the deceptive, unaffordable, adjustable-rate mortgages that started the crisis and are behind much of the problem -- are now in default. (That doesn't count those loans that have already been through foreclosure.)

Now economists fear we'll see a new wave of defaults as workers lose their jobs because of the recession and can't keep up with their mortgage payments.

The mortgage crisis continues to be focused in five states -- Nevada, Florida, Arizona, California and Michigan -- where subprime lending was particularly prevalent.

But five other states -- Louisiana, New York, Georgia, Texas and Mississippi -- had the sharpest increases in loans at least 90 days late. The MBA says that's a sign the recession is beginning to push more families into default.

If you're worried about losing your home, here's our best advice on how to avoid foreclosure.