The total number of loans currently in forbearance decreased by 13 basis points in the past month from 1.18% of servicers’ portfolio volume to 1.05%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) monthly Loan Monitoring Survey.
The survey covers the full month of March and represents 73% of the first-mortgage servicing market (36.4 million loans), according to the MBA.
Key findings:
- Total loans in forbearance decreased by 13 basis points in March 2022 relative to February 2022: from 1.18% to 1.05%.
- By investor type, the share of Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased relative to the prior month: from 1.50% to 1.38%.
- The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased relative to the prior month: from 0.56% to 0.49%.
- The share of other loans (e.g., portfolio and PLS loans) in forbearance decreased relative to the prior month: from 2.72% to 2.44%.
- Loans in forbearance as a share of servicing portfolio volume (#) as of March 31, 2022:
- Total: 1.05% (previous month: 1.18%)
- Independent Mortgage Banks (IMBs): 1.29% (previous month: 1.44%)
- Depositories: 0.86% (previous month: 0.97%)
- By stage, 29.7% of total loans in forbearance are in the initial forbearance plan stage, while 57.2% are in a forbearance extension. The remaining 13.1% are forbearance re-entries, including re-entries with extensions.
- Of the cumulative forbearance exits for the period from June 1, 2020, through March 31, 2022, at the time of forbearance exit:
- 2% resulted in a loan deferral/partial claim.
- 9% represented borrowers who continued to make their monthly payments during their forbearance period.
- 1% represented borrowers who did not make all of their monthly payments and exited forbearance without a loss mitigation plan in place yet.
- 4% resulted in a loan modification or trial loan modification.
- 4% resulted in reinstatements, in which past-due amounts are paid back when exiting forbearance.
- 7% resulted in loans paid off through either a refinance or by selling the home.
- The remaining 1.3% resulted in repayment plans, short sales, deed-in-lieu or other reasons.
- Total loans serviced that were current (not delinquent or in foreclosure) as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) rose to 95.47% in March 2022 from 94.94% in February 2022 (on a non-seasonally adjusted basis).
- The five states with the highest share of loans that were current as a percent of servicing portfolio: Idaho, Washington, Colorado, Utah, and Oregon.
- The five states with the lowest share of loans that were current as a percent of servicing portfolio: Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, West Virginia, and Oklahoma.
- Total completed loan workouts from 2020 and onward (repayment plans, loan deferrals/partial claims, loan modifications) that were current as a percent of total completed workouts rose to 83.67% last month from 82.26% in February.
The takeaway:
“March was another month of lower forbearance rates, and a higher share of overall loans and forbearance-related workout loans that are current,” said Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA’s vice president of Industry Analysis. “The share of loans in forbearance continues to dwindle and is just 5 basis points shy of hitting 1 percent – or 500,000 homeowners – after peaking at 4.3 million borrowers in June 2020. It has been a remarkable recovery for many homeowners in less than two years.”
