All is Calm for Forbearance Plan Exits

Active forbearance plan totals held steady this week, adding a quiet coda to a year of significant progress in COVID-19 related loss mitigation.

According to our McDash Flash daily forbearance tracking dataset, the number of active forbearance plans held steady, increasing by only 1,000 (0.1%) this week. A 5,600 decline in FHA/VA plans was offset by a 4,300 increase in portfolio/PLS and 2,200in GSE plan volumes. More than 150,000 plans are scheduled to be reviewed for extension/removal through the end of December, with half expected to be reaching their final expiration, providing opportunity for additional declines in plan volumes in early January.

As of December 21, 891,000 mortgage holders (1.7%) remain in COVID-19 related forbearance plans, including 1.1% of GSE, 2.5% of FHA/VA and 2.2% of portfolio/PLS.

Overall, the number of active plans is down 127,000 (-13%) from the same time last month, with the rate of improvement expected to change very little between now and the end of the year. So far in December some 220,000 borrowers have left forbearance plans, down from 420,000 in October and 370,000 in November as plan expirations have now passed their initial surge and have returned to more manageable levels.

We will continue to monitor the very latest forbearance data from the McDash Flash dataset and report our findings each week on this blog. Thank you for following our Forbearance Tracker blog posts in 2021. Due to the holidays, we will not be posting next week. Look for our next update on January 7, 2022.