Servicing

Those handling loan modifications anticipate a growing secondary market for loans in forbearance as they budget cautiously for additional alterations of regulations down the road.

The change makes it easier for borrowers exiting forbearance to get access to home retention options that might otherwise be out of reach due to skyrocketing home prices.

Fewer borrowers are suspending payments for pandemic hardships but some who got back on track are having trouble again, and deadlines could spur a final round of new requests.

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.

So far companies plan on using roughly the same number of employees as they shift from handling payment suspensions to assessing borrowers who have seen long-term declines in their incomes.

The four-week high in forbearance exits also helped drive the considerable drop in plans, according to Black Knight.

Numbers fell across the board, with private-label and portfolio loans declining most.

Most of the activity covered vacant and abandoned properties or commercial loans, according to Attom Data Solutions.

The total number of loans in this category dropped 11 basis points from week to week according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Meanwhile, the amount of unpaid balance in forbearance dropped almost 23% since the start of the year, a separate report from Black Knight found.

The company aims to use the additional capacity to get its non-qualified mortgage business back to producing $125 million per month, and anticipates more purchases of mortgage servicing rights, representatives said in its Q1 earnings call.