56
COVID-19 | Special Report
3.4M
HOMEOWNERS
IN FORBEARANCE
PLANS
According to the McDash Flash
Forbearance Tracker from Black Knight,
as of April 23, 2020, more than 3.4 million
homeowners, or 6.4% of all mortgages,
have entered into COVID-19 mortgage
forbearance plans.
is population represents $754 billion
in unpaid principal and includes 5.6% of all
GSE-backed loans and 8.9% of all FHA/VA
loans
is is an increase from Black Knights
April 16 data, when more than 2.9 million
homeowners, or 5.5% of all mortgages,
have entered into COVID-19 mortgage
forbearance plans.
According to Black Knight CEO
Anthony Jabbour, the recent Federal Housing
Finance Agency (FHFA) announcement of a
four-month limit on advance obligations for
servicers of mortgages backed by Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac provides the industry with
some much-needed clarity.
"Having a four-month end date on the
period in which servicers need to advance
principal and interest payments on behalf
of homeowners in forbearance is extremely
helpful to our servicing clients," said Jabbour.
"Still, even knowing that time limit, with
today's number of forbearance plans, servicers
are still looking at more than $7 billion dollars
in advances over those four months. And the
forbearance numbers are climbing steadily,
day by day. Clearly, this remains a challenging
situation all around."
With dramatic increases in
unemployment, delinquencies and defaults
can be expected to increase for the foreseeable
future, even during forbearance, Black Knight
notes.
"From the start of the COVID-19 crisis,
Black Knight has sought to provide leadership
on behalf of our clients, as well as provide
them with clarity, actionable intelligence and
knowledgeable assistance," Jabbour added.
"Beyond that, no other company has the
sort of holistic view of the mortgage market
and related industries that Black Knight
has. We've been able to see – and quantify –
what this situation means for our clients, the
industry and the wider U.S. economy, and we
have been actively sharing and innovating
around that insight."
