Forbearance Exits Slow Ahead of September 30 Exit Deadline

Welcome to Sagent’s weekly homeowner hardship briefing where we analyze the latest market data, including the Mortgage Bankers Association’s forbearance data, to offer key takeaways for servicers.

Here’s what’s new this week:

1. Forbearance Volume Down 2bps to 3.25%

This week, per the MBA’s latest forbearance data through August 29th, forbearance volume is down two basis points to 3.23% of all mortgage loan volume. This means roughly 1.6M borrowers are still in forbearance.

2. Forbearance Exits Slow Ahead of September 30 Exit Deadline

Forbearance exits have slowed again this week ahead of the critical September 30 forbearance exit deadline. Despite the slowing of exits recently, the aggregate number of exits is expected to accelerate in the coming weeks as servicers prepare for a wave of expirations of accommodation plans.

3. Forbearance Re-entries Continue Steady Climb Upward

This week, forbearance data again showed a steady climb upwards as forbearance re-entries reached 8.24%. This means roughly 131,840 borrowers have re-entered forbearance (according to my rough math). This continues to be an issue requiring attention and one to keep an eye on in the weeks to come.

The Bottom Line

Nothing too surprising this week, but expect that to change in the weeks to come ahead of the September 30 deadline. The population of borrowers who have been in forbearance less than six months is just about 10%. The fact that so many borrowers are in accommodations longer than six months indicates that servicers have a number of challenges ahead as they look to transition these borrowers back to performing status. As more and more borrowers exit forbearance, efficiency, precision, and compliance are imperative for servicers. To learn how Sagen’ts default management and loss mitigation platform, Tempo, helps servicers automate agency/nonagency decisioning to keep the loss mitigation process moving, fill out the form below.