Coronavirus

Legislation announced Wednesday would allow credit unions to make coronavirus relief loans to businesses without fear of bumping up against the member business lending cap.

The letter written by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, was seen as a boost to Wall Street lobbying efforts seeking to quell the fallout of the coronavirus crisis on the mortgage market.

The agency is still moving forward on key regulations dealing with payday lending and mortgage underwriting despite new demands posed by the crisis.

Declines in mortgage servicing rights valuations at JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo point to the resurgence of a dilemma that came up during the last downturn.

The Borrower Protection Program enables the two agencies to exchange information about loss mitigation efforts and consumer complaints regarding specific servicers.

The volume of COVID-19 forbearance requests has risen rapidly as operational processing has improved and hold times have contracted, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

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.

Lenders that split their sales of loans and servicing between two different investors may be facing yet another challenge due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Tenants have threatened to suspend payments during the pandemic to pressure officials into providing rental assistance, but the effects on multifamily loans would compound concerns about servicers' liquidity and, ultimately, lenders' performance.

Ginnie Mae will begin taking requests for assistance from issuers who, having exhausted all other options, are having trouble advancing borrowers' principal-and-interest payments to investors amid the pandemic.