Final MBA Forbearance & Call Volume Survey: Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Drops to 2.06%

The Mortgage Bankers Association issued its final Forbearance and Call Volume Survey on Monday; 77 weeks after its first survey, MBA reported one million homeowners in forbearance plans, down from more than six million in mid-2020.

The Survey reported loans now in forbearance decreased by 9 basis points to 2.06% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the week ending Oct. 31, from 2.15% the prior week. MBA estimates 1 million homeowners remain in forbearance plans.

The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased by 5 basis points to 0.92%. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased by 13 basis points to 2.52%, while the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities declined by 13 basis points to 5.00%. The percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank servicers decreased by 15 basis points to 2.28%, while the percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers
decreased by 5 basis points to 2.02%.

“One million homeowners remained in forbearance as we reached the end of October, but the forbearance share continued to decline, with larger declines for portfolio and PLS loans,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “More borrowers who exited forbearance the last week of October went into modifications, a sign that they have not yet regained their pre-pandemic level of income.”

Fratantoni noted the he strong job market report from October, with another drop in the unemployment rate and a pickup in wage growth, “is a positive sign for homeowners still struggling to get back on their feet.”

Key findings of MBA’s Forbearance and Call Volume Survey – October 25 – 31
• Total loans in forbearance decreased by 9 basis points from 2.15% to 2.06%.
o By investor type, the share of Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased from 2.65% to 2.52%.
o The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased from 0.97% to 0.92%.
o The share of other loans (e.g., portfolio and PLS loans) in forbearance decreased from 5.13% to 5.00%.

• By stage, 15.8% of total loans in forbearance are in the initial forbearance plan stage, while 73.9% are in a forbearance extension. The remaining 10.3% are forbearance re-entries, including re-entries with extensions.

• Total weekly forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) remained unchanged at 0.04%.

• Of the cumulative forbearance exits for the period from June 1, 2020, through October 31, 2021, at the time of forbearance exit:
o 29.1% resulted in a loan deferral/partial claim.
o 20.4% represented borrowers who continued to make their monthly payments during their forbearance period.
o 16.7% represented borrowers who did not make all of their monthly payments and exited forbearance without a loss mitigation plan in place yet.
o 13.4% resulted in a loan modification or trial loan modification.
o 12.0% resulted in reinstatements, in which past-due amounts are paid back when exiting forbearance.
o 7.0% resulted in loans paid off through either a refinance or by selling the home.
o The remaining 1.4% resulted in repayment plans, short sales, deed-in-lieus or other reasons.

• Weekly servicer call center volume:
o As a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#), calls increased from 5.9% to 6.5%.
o Average speed to answer increased from 1.5 minutes to 1.6 minutes.
o Abandonment rates increased from 4.0% to 4.5%.
o Average call length increased from 7.8 minutes to 8.1 minutes.

• Loans in forbearance as a share of servicing portfolio volume (#) as of October 31:
o Total: 2.06% (previous week: 2.15%)
o IMBs: 2.28% (previous week: 2.43%)
o Depositories: 2.02% (previous week: 2.07%)

The MBA Forbearance and Call Volume Survey represents 73% of the first-mortgage servicing market (36.6 million loans). To subscribe to the full report, go to www.mba.org/fbsurvey.

NOTE: This is MBA’s last Weekly Forbearance and Call Volume Survey. MBA will move to a monthly
report in December called the Monthly Loan Monitoring Survey. First publication of the Monthly
Loan Monitoring Survey will cover forbearance and performance data for Nov. 1-30 and will be released on Monday, December 20, at 4:00 p.m. ET.