Forbearance Plans See Typical Mid-Month Bump

Andy Walden

Forbearance plan volumes extended their upward trend this week following a typical pattern of increased mid-month restarts.

According to our McDash Flash daily mortgage performance dataset, the number of active forbearance plans increased by 17,400 (2.4%) this week. Loans held in bank portfolios and private label securities (PLS) led an across-the-board increase rising 7,800 (3.3%), followed by FHA/VA plans (5,000, 3.3%) and GSE plans (4,500, 2%).

New plan starts held steady this week at 11,200. Restarts increased by 6,000 to a total of 31,700.

As of March 22, 743,000 homeowners remain in COVID-19-related forbearance plans – 1.4% of all active mortgages. The group includes 0.8% of GSE mortgages, 2.2% of FHA/VA and 1.9% of portfolio held and privately securitized mortgages.

Plans are down by 47,200 (-6%) from the same time last month. Nearly 97,000 plans are still up for review by the end of March, with a third expected to be reaching their final expirations.