Fewer Americans are applying for mortgages. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey Wednesday for the week ending January 21, finding that a measure of mortgage loan application volume decreased 12.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Market Composite Index decreased 12.0 percent compared with the previous week. The results do not include an adjustment for the Martin Luther King holiday. The Refinance Index decreased 15.3 percent from the previous week and reached its lowest level since January 2010.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 8.7 percent from one week earlier. The Purchase Index is at its lowest level since October 2010.  The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 3.1 percent compared with the previous week and was 20.8 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.8 percent from 4.77 percent, with points decreasing to 1.19 from 1.20 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.