DS News

56 When the COVID-19 pandemic hit full force last March, mortgage lenders and servicers, as with many other businesses, were faced with a situation they had never encountered. ough the industry was very experienced when it came to dealing with natural disasters such as floods or hurricanes that would force office closures and otherwise impact business, those events were localized and limited in scope. e COVID-19 pandemic, however, was global. Even a year later, the battle against COVID-19 continues, although widespread vaccination has offered some sense that the end to the closed offices, reduced travel, and other pandemic-mandated measures may be on the horizon. "We've never gone through a pandemic before; everything was different," said Brian Gould, SVP of Operations for Genworth Mortgage Insurance. "e thing that comes closest is a hurricane, but that is short-term … and the rebuild starts right away." e pandemic resulted in the industry working within new forbearance and foreclosure rules, an unexpected jump in volume, the challenges of managing a largely remote staff, and an extremely long path back to some semblance of the previous industry environment. Some of the changes necessitated by COVID-19, however, are expected to become permanent. Home prices increased, while rates for 30- year fixed mortgages dropped nearly 100 basis points during the course of the year, according to Freddie Mac, driving refinancing demand. Joe Zeibert, Head of Global Mortgage Solutions for Nomis Solutions, explained, that adding to the complexity for the mortgage industry were more frequent price changes for loans due to swings in the underlying environment (loan risk factors, etc.). "Last year will go down as probably the best year in the history of mortgage lending in terms of not only the value but also the profit that was able to be manufactured during a period of time. It's not something that could have been expected," said Paul Buege, President and COO of Inlanta Mortgage. However, homeowners who had requested forbearance had to exit before being eligible, Gould said. So, lenders had to advise those homeowners how to cancel forbearance. Once someone had used it, even if only for a month, they had to make at least three timely payments before exiting. Before the pandemic-driven rules, the homeowner in forbearance had to make 12 timely payments Cover Story By: Phil Britt HOPE (AND CHALLENGES) AHEAD Industry representatives discuss how mortgage has weathered the challenges of COVID-19, how processes have changed for the long-term, and what looms ahead as vaccines promise a potential return to in-person business.

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