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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

OCC reports improved mortgage performance

Federal Issues OCC Mortgages Covid-19 Foreclosure Bank Regulatory

Federal Issues

On September 28, the OCC reported that 95 percent of first-lien mortgages were current and performing at the end of the second quarter of 2021—an increase from 91.1 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2020 (the first full quarter of the Covid-19 pandemic). According to the report, seriously delinquent mortgages declined from 4.6 percent in the prior quarter (6.8 percent a year ago) to 3.8 percent. During the second quarter of 2021, servicers initiated 592 new foreclosures—a 28.9 percent decrease from the prior quarter but a 137.8 percent increase from a year ago. The OCC noted that events related to the pandemic, such as foreclosure moratoriums, “significantly affected these metrics.” Additionally, mortgage modifications decreased 17.1 percent from the prior quarter. Of the reported 39,599 mortgage modifications, 53.3 percent reduced borrowers’ pre-modification monthly payments, while 97.2 percent were “combination modifications” that “included multiple actions affecting affordability and sustainability of the loan, such as an interest rate reduction and a term extension.”