Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 2.15 Percent

The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 6 basis points from 2.21% of servicers' portfolio volume in the prior week to 2.15% as of October 24, 2021. According to MBA's estimate, 1.1 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.

The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 3 basis points to 0.97%. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased 7 basis points to 2.65%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) declined 8 basis points to 5.13%. The percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers decreased 6 basis points relative to the prior week to 2.43%, and the percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers decreased 4 basis points to 2.07%.

"For the first time since March 2020, the share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance dropped below 1 percent. A small decline for this investor category was matched by similarly small declines for Ginnie Mae and portfolio/PLS loans," said Mike Fratantoni, MBA's Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. "Forbearance exits slowed at the end of October to the slowest pace since late August. With so many borrowers having reached the end of their 18-month forbearance term, we expect a steady pace of exits in November."

Key findings of MBA's Forbearance and Call Volume Survey - October 18 to October 24, 2021

Total loans in forbearance decreased by 6 basis points relative to the prior week: from 2.21% to 2.15%.

By investor type, the share of Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased relative to the prior week: from 2.72% to 2.65%.
The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased relative to the prior week: from 1.00% to 0.97%.
The share of other loans (e.g., portfolio and PLS loans) in forbearance decreased relative to the prior week: from 5.21% to 5.13%

By stage, 15.6% of total loans in forbearance are in the initial forbearance plan stage, while 74.2% are in a forbearance extension. The remaining 10.2% are forbearance re-entries, including re-entries with extensions.
Total weekly forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) remained the same relative to the prior week at 0.04%.
Of the cumulative forbearance exits for the period from June 1, 2020, through October 24, 2021, at the time of forbearance exit:

29.1% resulted in a loan deferral/partial claim.
20.6% represented borrowers who continued to make their monthly payments during their forbearance period.
16.7% represented borrowers who did not make all of their monthly payments and exited forbearance without a loss mitigation plan in place yet.
13.1% resulted in a loan modification or trial loan modification.
12.0% resulted in reinstatements, in which past-due amounts are paid back when exiting forbearance.
7.1% resulted 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

Weekly servicer call center volume:

As a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#), calls decreased relative to the prior week: from 7.7% to 5.9%.
Average speed to answer decreased from 2.1 minutes to 1.5 minutes.
Abandonment rates decreased from 5.7% to 4.0%.
Average call length decreased from 7.9 minutes to 7.8 minutes.