More bad news for homeowners who’ve been struggling with mortgage payments: Fitch Ratings released a report yesterday predicting that most homeowners who’ve received a loan modification under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, will default within a year.

The redefault rate within a year is likely to be 65 percent to 75 percent under HAMP for loans that aren’t back by the federal government, Fitch said.

That’s disappointing to hear, especially since a lot of borrowers spend months, sometimes more than year, trying to secure a loan modification. Experts say that homeowners are saddled with too much other debt – including credit card debt – and can’t keep up with mortgage payment even when they’re reduced.

The news comes as The Warren Group reports that foreclosures in Massachusetts more than doubled in May compared to a year earlier. In the first five months of 2010, 6,107 foreclosure deeds have been filed. That’s a 48 percent jump from a year earlier.

The only bright spot, if you can call it that, is that the number of foreclosures that banks have started so far this year hasn’t spiked. A total of 11,118 petitions to foreclose have been filed by lenders from January through May, which is up about 1.3 percent from 10,978 last year.