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Fannie Mae announces updated protections for renters and multifamily property owners impacted by Covid-19
On June 29, Fannie Mae announced updated protections for renters in multifamily units and multifamily property owners impacted by Covid-19. Fannie Mae’s Delegated Underwriting and Servicing lenders have the authority to extend existing forbearances by three months for multifamily property owners, for a total period of up to six months. If extended, at the conclusion of the forbearance period, the borrower may qualify for up to 24 months to repay the missed payments. For Fannie Mae-financed multifamily properties with a new or extended forbearance, the borrower is required to provide certain tenant protections during the repayment period, including allowing the tenant flexibility to repay back rent over time and giving the tenant at least a 30-day notice to vacate.
Lawmakers urge HUD and FHFA to amend forbearance policies that reduce access to mortgage credit
On June 25, Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance, Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO), and Congressman Juan Vargas (D-CA) sent a letter to HUD and FHFA calling for amendments to policies which penalize loans that go into forbearance prior to being insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or purchased by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (GSEs). According to the lawmakers, policies put into place prior to the Covid-19 pandemic by HUD and FHFA prohibited loans in forbearance from FHA endorsement or from being purchased by the GSEs. While the agencies amended the policies to allow for FHA insurance and GSE purchases due to the current economic crisis (covered by InfoBytes here and here), the lawmakers claim that lenders are required to pay “significant fees” and “increased costs” for these loans, which results in lenders (i) retaining mortgages that they had no intention, or may not have the capacity to maintain; (ii) paying a steep penalty to the GSEs; or (iii) agreeing to retain additional risk in the case of FHA. As a result, lenders have started limiting loans and access to credit or requiring “credit overlays” that are “disproportionately affecting borrowers of color and other underserved borrowers.” The lawmakers also assert that if a lender retains a loan to avoid a penalty, the loan does not become federally-backed and is consequently ineligible for protections afforded by the CARES Act and other federal regulations. The lawmakers ask that the agencies amend their policies to instead “spread the costs associated with those risks across a broader single-family portfolio,” which will lead to “near-negligible costs” on individual loans and “appropriately balance the need to manage risks to the taxpayer while serving [the] agencies’ missions of promoting access to credit.”
Fannie Mae modifies non-depository seller/servicer liquidity requirements
On June 24, Fannie Mae updated Lender Letter 2020-02 to temporarily modify the minimum liquidity requirements for non-depository institutions. Beginning with the financial quarter ending on June 30, 2020, the Agency Seriously Delinquent Mortgage Rate will include an adjustment for mortgage loans in a Covid-19-related forbearance plan that are 90 days or more delinquent but were current at the start of the Covid-19-related forbearance plan. The letter notes that the Mortgage Bankers Financial Reporting Form will be modified by June 30 to capture forbearance activity.
Freddie Mac modifies non-depository seller/servicer financial liquidity requirements
On June 24, Freddie Mac issued Bulletin 2020-24, which modifies the financial liquidity requirements for non-depository institutions. Specifically, the liquidity requirement is amended to take into account forbearances granted in association with Covid-19. Previously, the liquidity calculation was based in part on a premium on the amount of servicing for loans that are nonperforming (at least 90 days delinquent). The calculation now takes into account loans a lesser percentage with respect to forbearance loans that were current at the time they entered forbearance. For purposes of the liquidity requirement, if a mortgage exits forbearance during a calendar quarter, it will continue to be treated as being in forbearance until the end of that quarter for purposes of the liquidity requirement. The liquidity updates are effective on June 30, 2020.
FHFA adds new translated Covid-19 resources on LEP site
On June 16, FHFA added new translated versions of its Covid-19 resources to its Mortgage Translations website. The website now includes English, Spanish, traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Tagalog translations of scripts that servicers may use when discussing Covid-19 forbearance with borrowers. The revised Mortgage Assistance Application also is available in the same six languages.
CFPB issues CARES Act credit reporting FAQs
On June 16, the CFPB released a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) concerning the Bureau’s previously issued policy statement addressing consumer reporting agencies’ (CRAs) and furnishers’ credit reporting responsibilities under the CARES Act amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The policy statement also emphasized that the Bureau is taking a “flexible supervisory and enforcement approach during this pandemic regarding compliance with the [FCRA] and Regulation V,” including refraining from citing in examinations or bringing enforcement action against CRAs or furnishers acting in good faith. (Covered by InfoBytes here.)
Addressed within the FAQs are topics for furnishers to consider when complying with the CARES Act requirements. These include: (i) reporting as current certain accounts for consumers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic; (ii) citing or suing furnishers that violate the FCRA by failing to investigate disputes; (iii) defining an “accommodation” for purposes of the FCRA amendments, and clarifying whether furnishers are required to provide accommodations to impacted consumers, and if so, what their consumer reporting obligations will be; (iv) clarifying that “using a special comment code to report a natural or declared disaster or forbearance” is not a substitute for complying with the CARES Act credit reporting requirements; (v) warning that reporting forbearances on accounts that are not delinquent, or for which a consumer has not requested a forbearance, “increases the risks of inaccurate reporting and consumer confusion”; and (vi) specifying account status reporting requirements after a CARES Act accommodation ends.
FHFA extends Covid-19 origination flexibilities to July 31
On June 11, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced the extension of several temporary origination flexibilities put in place to assist borrowers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Specifically, FHFA has extended until at least July 31, the following flexibilities: “(i) alternative appraisals on purchase and rate term refinance loans; (ii) alternative methods for verifying employment before loan closing; (iii) expanding the use of power of attorney and remote online notarizations to assist with loan closings; and (iv) authority to purchase mortgages in forbearance.” The extensions are reflected in updates to the following Fannie Mae Lender Letters LL-2020-03, LL 2020-04, LL-2020-06, and Covid-19 selling FAQs. Similar updates include Freddie Mac’s Guide Bulletin 2020-23 and Covid-19 selling-related FAQs.
Fannie and Freddie issue Covid-related servicing updates
On June 10, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued numerous updates to temporary servicing guidelines due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Fannie Mae issued Lender Letter LL 2020-07, which, among other things (i) updates the workout option incentive fee structure introduced in LL-2020-09 (these updates are also reflected in LL-2020-05); (ii) clarifies when a HAMP borrower will keep “good standing” under a Covid-19 payment deferral; (iii) clarifies continued solicitation for a Fannie Mae Flex Modification after a borrower has defaulted on a Covid-19 payment deferral; and (iv) revises the Covid-19 payment deferral agreement. Additionally, LL 2020-02 clarifies that a servicer is not required to send a payment reminder notice to the borrower during an active forbearance plan term. Similar updates can be found in Freddie Mac’s Guide Bulletin 2020-21.
FHFA’s Calabria discusses housing market with Senate Committee
On June 9, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mark Calabria testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on the state of the housing market due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In his published statement, Calabria noted that at the start of 2020, the housing market was in a “strong position,” but “in response to Covid-19, financial markets endured a severe dislocation in March.” According to the statement, home prices have remained supported, as drops in demand have been balanced by a decrease in inventory. The statement also provides an update on FHFA’s policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. With regard to forbearances, Calabria acknowledged that forbearance rates were predicted to reach 25-50 percent; however, internal data indicates that “[e]nterprise forbearance rates remain manageable.” Specifically, the 30-60 day combined delinquency rate for borrowers with loans in Enterprise mortgage-backed securities “remains below the estimated rate of forbearance,” with Calabria commenting that some borrowers “who have requested forbearance are nonetheless continuing to make payments on their loan.” At the hearing, in response to a question asking if the FHFA plans to extend the foreclosure moratorium past June 30, Calabria noted that the agency is considering extending it “a month at a maximum” and would be “making that announcement certainly within a week.”
Calabria also discussed FHFA’s re-proposed capital rule for the Enterprises (covered by InfoBytes here). His statement notes that “Fannie and Freddie lack the capital to withstand a serious downturn in the housing market,” and the re-proposed rule would “help each [E]nterprise become safe and sound to fulfill its statutory mission across the economic cycle.”
HUD will allow mortgages to be endorsed despite forbearance
On June 4, HUD announced new, temporary guidance (see FHA Info #20-36 and HUD Mortgagee Letter 2020-16), which, among other things, grants mortgagees the ability to submit a mortgage for insurance endorsement involving a borrower who is experiencing financial hardships due to the Covid-19 pandemic, provided the mortgagee “executes a two-year partial indemnification agreement.” The temporary guidance sets the initial amount of partial indemnification at 20 percent of the original loan amount, which will only become payable if the mortgage goes into foreclosure and results in a claim to the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. Mortgagees may access the new agreement and instructions for endorsing these loans here. The guidance also provides for a temporary certification amendment to HUD 92900-A, which allows mortgagees to submit a separate addendum to a mortgagee’s certification addressing a mortgagee’s knowledge of changes in a borrower’s employment status and ability to make payments as a result of Covid-19 after the closing of a mortgage. HUD will also “continue to monitor the impacts to the market as well as implications to the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund and may adjust the level of partial indemnification for future indemnification contracts accordingly.”