NOTE 7 - LOAN SERVICING

Loans serviced for others are not reflected in the accompanying balance sheets. The unpaid principal balances of mortgages serviced for others were $43.7 million and $52.0 million at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Servicing loans for others generally consists of collecting mortgage payments, maintaining escrow accounts, disbursing payments to investors and foreclosure processing. Loan servicing income is recorded on an accrual basis and includes servicing fees from investors and certain charges collected from borrowers, such as late payment fees. The following table presents the activity of the mortgage servicing rights.


	Years Ended December 31,
(dollars in thousands)	2017	2016	2015
Balance, beginning of the year	$ 128	$ 219	$ 295
Additions	-	-	31
Amortization	(74)	(91)	(107)
Balance, end of the year	$ 54	$ 128	$ 219