Share Of Loans In Forbearance Continues to Fall Throughout July

The total number of loans in forbearance as of July 18, 2021, decreased by 2 basis points from 3.5% of servicers' portfolio volume in the prior week to 3.48%. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Forbearance and Call Volume Survey reveals that now there are 1.74 million homeowners left in forbearance. 

The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans fell 2 basis points to 1.81%. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance to 4.35%. The share of other loans, meaning portfolio and private-label securities (PLS) increased 5 basis points to 7.38%. For independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers, the share of loans in forbearance remained the same relative to the prior week at 3.68%. 

“The forbearance share decreased for GSE and Ginnie Mae loans, but increased for portfolio and PLS loans, as new forbearance requests increased for this category." said MBA's senior vice president and chief economist, Mike Fratantoni. "As is typical for mid-month reporting, forbearance exits slowed, and there was a slight increase in new requests. The net result was a small drop in the share of loans in forbearance - the 21st consecutive week of declines.” 

By stage, 9.8% of total loans are in the initial stage of forbearance and 83.2% are in the forbearance extension. The remaining 7% are forbearance re-entries. 

The largest share of forbearance exits resulted in a loan deferral/partial claim (28%). The second largest share represents borrowers who continued to make monthly payments during the forbearance period. The third represents borrowers who did not make their monthly payments and exited without a loss mitigation plan. (15.7%). 

More information on MBA’s forbearance data can be found at www.mba.org/fbsurvey.