Bank mortgage servicers are slashing their staff in the wake of improved loan performance and decreased portfolio, according to Fitch Ratings.
The average number of full-time mortgage servicing employees at banks has decreased to 4,000 from 8,000 two years ago, Fitch reported based on its latest U.S. RMBS Servicer Handbook. Meanwhile, nonbank servicing employment has remained steady at roughly 2,000 per company during this same time.
But the employees at banks may have more responsibilities than their nonbank counterparts. Fitch found that banker servicers manage two times as many mortgages as nonbank servicers, a result of improved performance driven in part by origination activity that has focused on higher credit quality portfolio additions.
Fitch's report also noted that banks are more likely than nonbanks to offer repayment plans, and that banks' use of loan modifications has grown. Still, nonbank servicers use loan modifications between 15% and 20% more than bank servicers.
