Familiar Mid-month Restarts Nudge Forbearances Higher

Andy Walden

Forbearance plan volumes bumped up slightly this week following the typical pattern of mid-month restart activity.

According to our McDash Flash daily mortgage performance dataset, the number of active forbearance plans increased 11,500 (1.5%) this week. The largest increase came from plans for loans held in bank portfolios and private-label securities (PLS) (7,600, 3.1%). FHA/VA plans increased 4,900 (1.8%). GSE plans declined 1,000 (-0.4%).

As of February 15, 772,000 homeowners remain in COVID-19-related forbearance plans – 1.5% of all active mortgages. The group includes 0.9% of GSE mortgages, 2.3% of FHA/VA and 1.9% of portfolio held and privately securitized mortgages.

Plans are down by 38,100 (-4.7%) from the same time last month, as the overall rate of improvement continues to slow with lower expiration activity.

The next significant opportunity for improvement will come in early March. More than 129,000 plans are up for review over the next couple of weeks, with a third expected to reach their final expirations.