Servicing

The joint site describes potential strategies for both homeowners and renters economically affected by COVID-19.

The agency’s IG says the PPP failed to prioritize borrowers in underserved and rural markets; the firms, which lack deposits to cushion them, are vulnerable to borrowers defaulting on their loans.

Complaints to the bureau hit an all-time high in April. More than one in five said servicers wouldn't grant deferrals, forced borrowers into forbearance or violated other requirements of the coronavirus relief law.

The SBA's long-standing Economic Injury Disaster Loan program has been so overwhelmed with applications that the agency has capped loan sizes; ECB finding few takers for a program in which it pays banks to make business loans.

Lenders that scrambled to grant forbearance as the coronavirus pandemic took hold are unsure about the extent of potential losses.

Some benefits are materializing from Fannie Mae's pledge to limit servicers' exposure to principal-and-interest advances the way Freddie Mac does, but counterparties of both GSEs remain exposed to other concerns.

The lenders are bracing for spikes in delinquencies or defaults on loans to a sector heavily punished by social distancing measures.

The FHFA's director said the announcement is meant to “combat ongoing misinformation” about efforts to let homeowners skip mortgage payments due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Lenders and small businesses are hoping this round goes more smoothly than the chaotic first one (and if it doesn't, Joe Biden warns, many mom-and-pop shops are done for); originators are adding staff, cutting marketing to handle massive uptick in refinance applications.

The bureau said it began developing the standards before the coronavirus pandemic. But more transfers may occur as some servicers struggle to meet their obligations during the economic downturn.