Mortgage servicers are more responsible for the persistently high foreclosure rates than either home owners or mortgage owners are, a new report from the National Consumer Law Center argues.

The report, Why Servicers Foreclose When They Should Modify and Other Puzzles of Servicer Behavior, contends that servicers find foreclosing on a delinquent mortgage loan makes them more money than modifying it.

"Loan modifications inevitably cost the servicer something. A servicer deciding between a foreclosure and a loan modification faces the prospect of near certain loss if the loan is modified, and no penalty, but potential profit, if the home is foreclosed," the report said.