Loan modifications

The government-sponsored enterprises are focusing on how loans can be repaid after the federal forbearance period ends, and projections for loan modification volumes suggest the larger industry should, too.

More than a dozen firms have struck agreements with nine states to provide forbearance to customers struggling to make payments in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Homeowners reeling from coronavirus-induced economic shock are already enduring extremely long wait times while trying to get relief. Legislation passed last week could worsen the logjams.

Accommodations for borrowers affected by the coronavirus pandemic, such as payment delays and fee waivers, are "positive and proactive actions that can manage or mitigate adverse impacts," the regulators said.

According to Moody's, Ally's latest auto-loan ABS will not require the issuer to repurchase loans with modified terms or maturities.

Freddie Mac is automating a manual form submission process used to correct post-settlement and real estate owned data, and adding policy changes aimed at accommodating electronic signatures on loss mitigation documents.

Caliber Home Loans settled a grievance with the Massachusetts attorney general over allegations of providing distressed borrowers with unaffordable loan modifications.

The bank agreed to modify loans to struggling U.S. borrowers as part of a 2017 settlement. Instead, it’s receiving credit for financing new mortgages that likely would have been made anyway.

An agency report said servicing portfolios have shrunk by nearly half in 10 years as much of the mortgage market has shifted to nonbanks.

The average home value backing the loans is $117,000, well below the average $150,000 of other recent RPL securitizations, according to Fitch Ratings.