Banks Fudging The Foreclosure Numbers?

Saw the following article posted on MSNBC: Not paying mortgage, yet stuck with keys

• A growing number of American homeowners are falling into financial limbo: They're badly behind on payments, but their banks have not yet foreclosed.
  
  The backlog of seriously delinquent mortgages, which so far affects about 1 million borrowers, is a shadow over hopes for a rebound in the nation's housing markets. It masks the full extent of the foreclosure crisis and threatens to depress prices even further just as some parts of the country are hinting at recovery. For lenders, it could portend even more financial losses tied to the mortgage meltdown.
  
  "It just means foreclosure rates are going to keep rising," said Patrick Newport, an economist for IHS Global Insight... read rest of article here

Badly behind on payments but yet their banks have not yet foreclosed?????

Holy cow!!!!

Since when have bankers been sooooooooooooo kind with foreclosures???

Would it be wrong to say that the bankers are being so kind for their own sake in trying to make their own books look nice???