Home loan arrears within the Australian banking system are rising fastest among foreign banks rather than among domestic banks according to APRA data cited by the Reserve Bank of Australia in its Financial Stability Review.Two banks - ING and Bank of Western Australia - account for 80 per cent of the aggregate market share of foreign banks. Two more banks - Citigroup and HSBC - account for almost all the rest of the foreign bank share.A chart in the review shows home loan arrears climbed to around 75 basis points for foreign banks at June 2007 up from 45 basis points a year ago.For major banks arrears increased to around 35 basis points from around 25 basis points. For other Australian-owned banks arrears increased modestly to around 60 basis points from around 55 basis points.The RBA, this time relying on data from ratings agencies, said the 90-day arrears rate on securitised prime housing loans, at 0.41 per cent at June 2007, was broadly unchanged since the beginning of 2006, after increasing in 2004 and 2005.While some borrowers fall behind on their home loans many more are getting ahead. The RBA said, and based on liaison with banks, that about one quarter of owner-occupier borrowers are more than a year ahead on their mortgage repayments, and around one half are ahead by more than a month. Based on a separate review of a sample of securitised housing loans the RBA said it estimated the rate of excess principal repayments (net of redraws) at around 0.3 per cent of loan balances per month during 2006. The RBA said this was a lower rate than earlier in the decade, but had picked up a little since late 2005.The Financial Stability Review also reports some banking system-wide measures of credit quality.Credit card arrears of 90 days or more increased to 1.2 per cent at June 2007 up from 1.1 per cent at June 2006.Arrears on personal loans were little changed over the year at close to one per cent.The RBA said the arrears rate on business loans has also picked up slightly over the past six months to 0.95 per cent at June 2007, up from a cyclical low last year, but still below the level of arrears of around 1.3 to 1.4 per cent in 2003 and 2004.