Credit quality

The government-sponsored enterprises set a Sept. 30 deadline for sellers to accept applications for Libor adjustable-rate mortgages.

Low rates and intense competition might lead some banks to ease underwriting standards in 2021, when the economy may not yet have recovered.

Commercial real estate loans are vulnerable as financial assistance for tenants winds down and might not be fully renewed. Late rent payments could rise, leading lenders to press landlords to pay up.

Uncertainties in the job market drove mortgage credit availability down again, falling to the lowest point since March 2014, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Conditions have improved for the first time since November.

Other regionals set more aside for loan losses than the Cleveland bank did in the second quarter, and its ratio of reserves to total loans is slightly lower, too. But Key executives say the portfolio is balanced and holding up well despite the pandemic’s economic toll.

As the coronavirus created uncertainty for the housing market, underwriting standards tightened further in June.

As revenue-starved retailers fall further behind on rent payments, landlords' cash flow will be strained, and defaults on commercial real estate loans could rise.

Looming economic uncertainties forced mortgage lenders to tighten underwriting standards in May.

The rescue bill enabled banks to protect loans in forbearance from an immediate hit to a borrower’s credit report, but experts say affected consumers may have trouble getting loans after the pandemic ends.

The second-quarter jump in provisions may be three to four times higher than a year earlier and will be mostly for loans that have yet to go bad, analysts said.

The upstarts enjoyed rapid growth during the long economic expansion. Now they are on the ropes.

More details have emerged about the damage the coronavirus pandemic is inflicting on the hospitality industry. One servicer alone has received 2,000 workout requests in the past month.

By helping borrowers now, banks hope customers can quickly catch up on payments once the coronavirus pandemic ends. If they can’t, interest income will remain low and charge-offs could pile up if the crisis drags on.

Commercial real estate lenders have to consider not only how they’ll weather the COVID-19 downturn, but whether worker and consumer habits have changed for good.

The largest bank in Puerto Rico said hundreds of millions of dollars of its mortgages and consumer loans are tied to the parts of the island hit by the recent quake or still recovering from two hurricanes.

Susan Riel succeeded Ronald Paul as CEO of the Maryland bank shortly before questions surfaced about credit quality and lending practices.

Such credits, which reflect borrowers with financial challenges, increased significantly during the third quarter.

Shares in the lender fell after it reported lower third-quarter profits, said nonperforming assets rose and cautioned that it had lost multifamily loan deals to competitors offering easier terms.

Caught in the middle of a credit-subsidy debate, the program would have shut down on Tuesday without congressional action.