Mortgage delinquency rates moved sharply higher in the fourth quarter of 2004, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of data from the industry’s top servicers. A group of 25 top servicers reported a weighted total delinquency rate of 3.68 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, up 42 basis points from the prior period. It marked the highest level of late payments in the IMF Large Mortgage Servicer Delinquency Index since the…