Mortgages

By helping borrowers now, banks hope customers can quickly catch up on payments once the coronavirus pandemic ends. If they can’t, interest income will remain low and charge-offs could pile up if the crisis drags on.

At issue is whether the U.S. should step in now to save nonbank mortgage servicers to head off damage to the housing market.

Tenants have threatened to suspend payments during the pandemic to pressure officials into providing rental assistance, but the effects on multifamily loans would compound concerns about servicers' liquidity and, ultimately, lenders' performance.

The National Credit Union Administration this week will consider an interim final rule regarding its Central Liquidity Facility and changes to real estate appraisal requirements.

Q1 profits expected to drop by nearly 25%, while investment banking revenues could tank much more; many banks have tighter standards than the SBA.

In blue states in particular, governors and attorneys general are taking up the mantle of consumer protection during the coronavirus emergency, effectively adding another layer of regulation to the patchwork of state and federal oversight.

Ginnie Mae will begin taking requests for assistance from issuers who, having exhausted all other options, are having trouble advancing borrowers' principal-and-interest payments to investors amid the pandemic.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote in a letter to the Treasury secretary that the Financial Stability Oversight Council should create a liquidity facility to deal with a flood of forbearance requests brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Jamie York has taken the helm at Neighborhood Mortgage Solutions as CEO Greg Wischmeyer prepares to retire.

The share of borrowers seeking payment relief rose more than tenfold as COVID-19 concerns grew and authorities encouraged the practice, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.