Servicing

Forbearance requirements under the CARES Act raised immediate concerns about servicing advances and performance, but experts suggest there are other outcomes to brace for, too.

If rising flood waters were the right analogy last time around, this time a tsunami is probably a more accurate description of the wave of delinquencies about to come.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote in a letter to the Treasury secretary that the Financial Stability Oversight Council should create a liquidity facility to deal with a flood of forbearance requests brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mark Calabria needs to be working to secure a Fed facility for servicer advances and to support, not denigrate, smaller servicers, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The share of borrowers seeking payment relief rose more than tenfold as COVID-19 concerns grew and authorities encouraged the practice, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The CARES Act does not define what a covered period is when it comes to residential mortgage borrower requests for forbearance.

Servicers' obligations to advance or temporarily absorb unpaid funds could range from $3 billion to $13 billion per month, according to Black Knight.

Ginnie Mae and the FHA provided temporary liquidity relief for mortgage servicers bracing for higher delinquencies, but the industry continues to pressure Treasury and the Fed to provide more comprehensive support.

Ocwen Financial has approximately $749 million of liquidity from various sources to deal with servicing issues arising from the coronavirus, a company press release said.

Nonbank mortgage employment estimates show payrolls in February leveled off after an unusually strong winter, but anecdotal reports of selective hiring persisted through March amid a broader coronavirus-related drop in U.S. jobs.