The Mortgage Bankers Association‘s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey has revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 4 basis points from 3% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 2.96% as of September 19. According to MBA’s estimate, 1.5 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 3 basis points to 1.44%. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance increased 3 basis points to 3.42%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) decreased 4 basis points to 6.91%.
The percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers decreased 1 basis point relative to the prior week to 3.24%, and the percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers decreased 4 basis points to 3.06%.
“The share of loans in forbearance continued to decrease last week, dropping below 3 percent for the first time since March 2020,” says Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist. “However, there was a slight increase in the forbearance share for Ginnie Mae loans, and this increase was seen for both depository and IMB servicers. New forbearance requests and re-entries continue to run at a higher rate for Ginnie Mae loans as well as for portfolio and PLS loans, which include many delinquent FHA, VA, and USDA loans that have been bought out of Ginnie Mae pools.”
Total loans in forbearance decreased by 4 basis points relative to the prior week: from 3% to 2.96%. By investor type, the share of Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance increased relative to the prior week from 3.39% to 3.42%.
The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased relative to the prior week from 1.47% to 1.44%. The share of other loans (e.g., portfolio and PLS loans) in forbearance decreased relative to the prior week from 6.95% to 6.91%.
By stage, 12% of total loans in forbearance are in the initial forbearance plan stage, while 79.3% are in a forbearance extension. The remaining 8.7% are forbearance re-entries.
Total weekly forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) remained the same relative to the prior week at 0.05%. Of the cumulative forbearance exits for the period from June 1, 2020, through September 19, 2021, at the time of forbearance exit 28.7% resulted in a loan deferral/partial claim and 21.8% represented borrowers who continued to make their monthly payments during their forbearance period. Those who did not make all of their monthly payments and exited forbearance without a loss mitigation plan in place yet represented 16.3%. Reinstatements, in which past-due amounts are paid back when exiting forbearance, accounted for 12.7% while 11.8% resulted in a loan modification or trial loan modification, and 7.4% in loans paid off through either a refinance or by selling the home. The remaining 1.4% resulted in repayment plans, short sales, deed-in-lieus or other reasons.
