Loss mitigation

Abandoning recent improvements in federal mortgage loss-mitigation programs would be a mistake, writes the president of the Center for Responsible Lending.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has seen excessive property-inspection charges, fees that loan mods should eliminate and improper line-item labels.

Deferrals are up but still haven't outpaced loan modifications in conservatorship-era foreclosure prevention, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

HPC and the MBA called on John Bell, executive director at the agency, to disclose a blueprint of the VASP program and allow for a 30-day commentary period.

The payment supplement partial claim the Federal Housing Administration proposed could be effective but not as is, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association and two other groups.

This summer, the Department of Veterans Affairs will introduce a new kind of a "last-ditch effort" to keep veterans in homes, by making servicers whole and putting the delinquent borrowers on an exclusive interest rate.

The agency developed measures taking effect Aug. 31 that, among other things, will allow lenders to prioritize foreclosures of the most impaired loans and then focus on modifying salvageable ones.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a temporary final rule that allows mortgage servicers to initiate foreclosures on abandoned properties and certain delinquent borrowers, but it also outlined additional measures that shield distressed homeowners.

The FHFA’s forbearance extension to September is forcing nonbank servicers to buy out more delinquent loans. It's also upended loss estimates for investors and made racial and income disparities in the mortgage market worse.

The agency will allow an additional three months of forbearance for loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, giving homeowners up to 18 months to suspend payments due to the pandemic.

The decision provides more clarity to noteholders in the state about when the six-year statute of limitations to bring a foreclosure action begins.

With President Biden extending the moratorium, foreclosures hit an all-time low at the start of 2021 as millions of delinquent borrowers avoided entering the process, according to Attom Data Solutions.

While the annual total marks a 16-year low, the numbers are likely to change dramatically once government moratoria expire, according to Attom Data Solutions.

The forbearance rate rose behind slowed economic recovery, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The company was accused of sending borrowers erroneous loan modification information between 2014 and 2018.

The key to preparation today lies in process automation that far surpasses pre-pandemic solutions for default servicing, Clarifire CEO Jane Mason says.

The forbearance rate continued its improvement, but the surge of COVID-19 cases could lead to more borrowers needing mortgage relief, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The November foreclosure rate represented an 80% decline from the year before, according to Attom Data Solutions.

The surge of COVID-19 cases slowed economic recovery and hampered improvements in the forbearance rate, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The economic fallout from COVID-19 has highlighted systemic concerns about commercial real estate exposure, business debt and short-term wholesale funding, the Financial Stability Oversight Council said in an annual report.