Total forbearance driven by the coronavirus rose by 25 basis points, which suggests it is still growing but at a slowing pace, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
About 4.1 million mortgages sat in forbearance plans between May 4 and May 10. Approximately 8.16% of all outstanding loans went into forbearance, compared to
The share of loans in forbearance at independent mortgage bank servicers increased by more than the industry-wide average, growing by 31 basis points to 7.85% from 7.54% over that period. At depositories, that share increased to 8.99% from 8.75%.
"The pace of forbearance requests continued to slow in the second week of May, but the share of loans in forbearance increased," Mike Fratantoni, the MBA's senior vice president and chief economist, said in a press release. "There has been a pronounced flattening in loans put into forbearance — despite April's uniformly negative economic data,
The Biden administration once again extended the pause on student loan payments enacted to help borrowers during the COVID-19 pandemic, this time through the end of August.
The two states' combined plans amount to over $1.5 billion of the Homeowner Assistance Fund included within the American Rescue Plan Act , which was passed a year ago.
An uptick in pandemic-related payment suspensions reflecting new or restarted plan activity previously occurred as the omicron variant spread, but activity has since subsided.
Forbearance requests as a percentage of servicing portfolio volume declined 19 basis points for the week ended May 10 to 0.32% from 0.51%. Call center volume as a percentage of portfolio volume also fell to 7.8% from 8.6% the previous week.
"We will continue to closely monitor the forbearance request and call volume data for any sign of an uptick, but current trends suggest that if the economy continues to gradually reopen, the situation could be stabilizing," Fratantoni added.
The share of conforming mortgages, those purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in forbearance grew to 6.25% from 6.08%. The share of forbearance of private-label securities and portfolio loans — products which were not addressed by the coronavirus relief act — jumped to 9.26% from 8.88% the week prior.
The MBA's sample for this week's survey contains a total of 53 servicers consisting of 28 independent mortgage bankers, 23 depositories, plus two subservicers. By unit count, the respondents represented nearly 77%, or 38.3 million, of the outstanding first-lien mortgages.
