Delinquencies

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's overhaul of its Qualified Mortgage standard is alarming free-market advocates who say it will precipitate a return to easy credit and higher defaults and could disproportionately harm minorities.

But most borrowers who have exited forbearance plans are back on track when it comes to paying, and the incidence of loss mitigation plans is high among those who aren't.

Over 3.6 million borrowers sit in coronavirus-related forbearance with portfolio and private-label securitized loans driving the week's increase, according to Black Knight.

The agency reported signs of stress on the credit quality in residential loans serviced by seven large banks as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new report on bank-held commercial real estate and C&I loans indicates troubled borrowers may be skipping payments on loans they won't be able to refinance or extend over the next year, leading to a potential wave of defaults over the next four to six quarters.

Without further government help, that rate could double again by 2022, CoreLogic said.

Today there are 1 million fewer Americans in forbearance than there were at the peak in May, according to Black Knight.

Three non-QM deal issuers in August report varying levels of progress in moving borrowers from expired forbearance programs.

As interest rates tumbled throughout July, prepayments climbed to the highest monthly rate since 2004, but 90-days-or-more delinquencies were on the rise from June, according to Black Knight.

Rather than letting zombie properties sit vacant, selling them to new owners and getting them reoccupied, creates the desired outcome.

Positive payment behaviors in conjunction with CARES Act measures kept mortgage delinquencies from rising, but the number of borrowers facing hardship grew exponentially from last year, according to TransUnion.

More homeowners in Florida and nationwide became delinquent on their mortgage payments in the second quarter compared to the first, according to the Mortgage Banker Association.

Federal Housing Administration mortgages — the affordable path to homeownership for many first-time buyers, minorities and low-income Americans — now have the highest delinquency rate in at least four decades.

Interest rates jumped from a new record low, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were widely panned for imposing a refinance fee.

As more borrowers exit their plans, fewer than 4 million loans sit in forbearance, according to Black Knight.

May’s overall delinquency rate was up over 100% from the prior year.

From guidelines for remote appraisal alternatives to the ways that forbearance affects borrowers' ability to get new loans, here are five examples of mortgage requirements that have been in flux since the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.

The enhanced jobless benefits in the coronavirus relief law enacted in March helped limit delinquencies and maintain consumer spending, analysts say. In their follow-up stimulus plan, Senate Republicans want to cut those benefits from $600 to $200 a week.

With coronavirus moratoriums still in place, foreclosures fell to the lowest level since at least 2000, while serious delinquencies ballooned by 1.2 million in June, according to Black Knight.

The measures currently ensuring mortgage companies have sufficient cash to cover advances aren't necessarily sustainable, warns Ted Tozer, a senior fellow at the Milken Institute and a former government official.