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Agencies instruct servicers to pause foreclosures while HAF assistance is available
On May 6, the Secretaries of HUD, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, and Treasury announced that servicers of federally-backed mortgages should pause pending foreclosure proceedings while assistance is available under the Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF). President Biden’s American Rescue Plan established HAF to provide approximately $10 billion in financial support for families affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the announcement, pausing pending proceedings is considered “a vital step towards keeping families in their homes as they receive assistance through the HAF program and is consistent with Congress’s intent in putting in place the HAF program to protect vulnerable homeowners.” The Secretaries encourage homeowners and servicers to continue collaborating on loss mitigation options so that homeowners eligible for assistance can choose “the best path to staying in their homes and fully utilize available resources.” They also “strongly encourage servicers to offer these loss mitigation options to borrowers who are struggling to make their mortgage payments, including those who are eligible for HAF funding.” The announcement further noted that, among other things, Treasury is urging HAF program administrators to ensure that their programs expedite handling of applications from homeowners with pending foreclosure proceedings, and to develop expedited procedures for handling homeowners with immediate threats to housing stability, in addition to supporting homeowners who may benefit from the agencies’ loss mitigation options.
HUD offers 40-year mortgage modification
On April 18, HUD issued Mortgagee Letter 2022-07, which establishes a 40-year loan modification as part of the Covid-19 Recovery Loss Mitigation Options. According to HUD, the new option is “designed to help those borrowers who cannot achieve a minimum targeted 25 percent reduction in the Principal and Interest portion of their mortgage payment through FHA’s existing 30-year mortgage modification with a partial claim.” Mortgage servicers may start implementing the new 40-year modification with partial claim option immediately; however, servicers must offer this solution to eligible borrowers with FHA-insured Title II forward mortgages, except those funded through Mortgage Revenue Bonds under certain circumstances, within 90 calendar days. As previously covered by InfoBytes, HUD published a proposed rule to increase the maximum term limit allowable on loan modifications for FHA-insured mortgages from 360 to 480 months. Comments are due by May 31.
CFPB and FTC release 2021 FDCPA report
On April 15, the CFPB and the FTC released their annual report to Congress on the administration of the FDCPA (see announcements here and here). The agencies are delegated joint FDCPA enforcement responsibility and, pursuant to a 2019 memorandum of understanding, may share supervisory and consumer complaint information, as well as collaborate on education efforts (covered by InfoBytes here). Among other things, the annual report provided a broad overview of the debt collection industry during the Covid-19 pandemic and highlighted enforcement actions taken by, and education and outreach efforts, policy initiatives, and supervisory findings of, the CFPB and FTC. With respect to enforcement, the report noted that: (i) the FTC resolved three FDCPA cases against 17 defendants and banned all 17 companies and individuals who engaged in serious and repeated violations of law from engaging in debt collection; (ii) there was one new public enforcement action brought in 2021 related to unlawful debt collection conduct; (iii) the Bureau resolved two pending lawsuits with FDCPA claims and also filed an action to recover a fraudulent transfer to enforce a prior judgment that penalized a defendant’s FDCPA violations, which resulted in judgments for $2.26 million in consumer redress; and (iv) by the end of 2021, the Bureau had three FDCPA enforcement actions pending in federal court. The report also noted that the CFPB handled roughly 121,700 debt collection complaints in 2021, of which the Bureau sent approximately 73,600 (or 60 percent) to companies for their review and response. Finally, the report also noted that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in AMG Capital Management v. FTC “made it much more difficult for the FTC to obtain monetary relief for unfair or deceptive debt collection practices that fall outside the scope of the FDCPA.” As previously covered by InfoBytes, in that decision the Court unanimously held that Section 13(b) of the FTC Act “does not authorize the Commission to seek, or a court to award, equitable monetary relief such as restitution or disgorgement.”
CFPB addresses risks facing student loan borrowers when payment suspension ends
On April 14, the CFPB’s Office of Research released a special issue brief addressing risks facing student loan borrowers once federal Covid-19 payment suspensions end later this year. The report documented the status of millions of student loan borrowers during the pandemic and found that borrowers most at risk include those who are 30 to 49 years of age and who live in low-income, high-minority census tracts.
The report examined data from its Consumer Credit Panel (a sample of nearly 34 million student loan borrowers, including those with private loans and loans which had not yet entered repayment as of February 2020) to identify the types of borrowers who may struggle to resume scheduled loan payments once the payment suspension ends. Analysis identified five potential risk factors: (i) pre-pandemic delinquencies on student loans; (ii) pre-pandemic payment assistance on student loans; (iii) multiple student loan servicers; (iv) delinquencies on other credit products since the start of the pandemic; and (v) new third-party collections during the pandemic. Researchers found that over five million borrowers had at least two of the five potential risk factors considered in the report, and that borrowers with multiple risk factors were more likely to live in low-income or high-minority census tracts. For instance, the report found that approximately 17 percent of student loan borrowers in the sample had multiple servicers for their loans before the pandemic. While having multiple servicers does not necessarily result in greater repayment difficulties, the report noted that some of these borrowers could face “increased risk of confusion or payment difficulties while coordinating communication and payments with multiple entities,” and cited previous findings which pointed to some student loan servicers denying or failing to approve qualified borrowers for income-driven repayment plans. Researchers also concluded that there are other borrowers outside the scope of the report who may not struggle immediately after the payment suspension ends but may face difficulties later.
OCC says bank partnerships crucial in community reinvestment and resilience
On April 7, the OCC highlighted measures that banks can take to collaborate with community development financial institutions (CDFIs), minority depository institutions (MDIs), and other community-based groups to assist communities recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic and natural disasters. In the agency’s latest edition of its Community Developments Investments newsletter, “Partners in Recovery: Community Reinvestment and Resilience,” the OCC discussed ways banks have partnered with CDFIs and MDIs to originate small business loans, and highlighted federal emergency programs created to provide resources to low- and moderate-income and minority communities and businesses recovering from the disproportionate effects of the pandemic. The newsletter also provided examples of bank-community partnerships and addressed the role that these partnerships play in both rebuilding communities following disasters and the pandemic and preparing for future crises through climate resilience planning and investment.
CFPB releases semi-annual report
On April 6, the CFPB issued its semi-annual report to Congress covering the Bureau’s work for the period beginning April 1, 2021 and ending September 30, 2021. The report, which is required by Dodd-Frank, addresses several issues, including difficulties faced by consumers in obtaining consumer financial products or services throughout the reporting period. The report highlighted that the Bureau, among other things, has: (i) taken steps to increase workforce and contracting diversity; (ii) carefully observed consumer reporting agencies’ and furnishers’ compliance with Fair Credit Reporting Act accuracy obligations relating to rental information, and outlined specific areas of focus and concern; (iii) hosted a roundtable examining racial bias in home appraisals; (vi) expanded housing efforts into a comprehensive, cross-federal campaign aimed at connecting homeowners and renters facing housing insecurity as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic with the resources available to help them stay in their homes; and (v) launched an initiative to reduce fees that consumers are charged by banks and financial companies. In regard to supervision, enforcement and fair lending, the report highlighted its public supervisory and enforcement actions and other significant initiatives during the reporting period. Additionally, the report noted rule-related work, including advisory opinions, advance notice of proposed rulemakings, requests for information and proposed and final rules.
President Biden extends moratorium on student loan payments
On April 6, President Biden extended the moratorium on collecting student loans until August 31, explaining that the extension “will assist borrowers in achieving greater financial security and support the Department of Education’s efforts to continue improving student loan programs.” The Department of Education released a statement noting that it will continue to assess the financial impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on student loan borrowers and assist them, which includes “allowing all borrowers with paused loans to receive a ‘fresh start’ on repayment by eliminating the impact of delinquency and default and allowing them to reenter repayment in good standing.” In response to the extension, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona stated that the Department of Education will continue "to ensure that all borrowers have access to repayment plans that meet their financial situations and needs.”
CFPB handled nearly 1 million consumer complaints in 2021
On March 31, the CFPB published its Consumer Response Annual Report for 2021, providing an overview of consumer complaints received by the agency between January 1 and December 31, 2021. According to the report, the Bureau handled approximately 994,000 consumer complaints last year. Among other trends, the agency found that complaints about credit or consumer reporting continue to increase, accounting for more than 70 percent of all complaints received last year. Debt collection complaints are also increasing, accounting for more than 10 percent of all complaints. Consumers also reported difficulties with financial institutions failing to adequately address consumer complaints, giving consumers the runaround, and described issues with reaching companies to raise concerns about digital assets, mobile wallets, and buy-now-pay-later credit. The Bureau noted that during the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, complaint data showed that the volume of complaints from consumers struggling to pay their mortgages is increasing as borrower protections have expired. While complaints related to vehicle loans have also increased, the Bureau reported that student loan complaints remain lower than pre-Covid levels due to the implementation of temporary relief programs. The top products and services—representing approximately 94 percent of all complaints—were credit or consumer reporting, debt collection, credit cards, checking or savings accounts, and mortgages. The Bureau also received complaints related to money transfers and virtual currency; vehicle finance; prepaid cards; student, personal, and payday loans; credit repair; and title loans.
CFPB reports cover mortgage challenges, emergency savings
On March 23, the CFPB released two reports, New Data on the Characteristics of Mortgage Borrowers During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Emergency Savings and Financial Security: Insights from the Making Ends Meet Survey and Consumer Credit Panel. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the CFPB first released Characteristics of Mortgage Borrowers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in May 2021, which analyzed mortgage borrowers’ challenges due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The recently released report explores the characteristics of borrowers who are delinquent or in forbearance based a sample of more than 2 million loans for owner-occupied properties. The report shows, among other things, that Black and Hispanic borrowers are more at risk of poor outcomes than others, as they comprised 31.2 percent of borrowers in forbearance while only constituting 18.2 percent of the overall sample of mortgage borrowers. The report also found that single borrower loans were approximately 1.6 times more likely to be in forbearance through January 2022, compared to loans with a co-borrower, which is an increase relative to March 2021, where single borrowers were only 1.4 times more likely to be in forbearance compared to co-borrowers.
The Emergency Savings and Financial Security Insights from the Making Ends Meet Survey and Consumer Credit Panel report examines how consumers’ financial profiles vary by levels of emergency savings. Using the Making Ends Meet survey and pairing it with credit bureau data from our Consumer Credit Panel, the report found that, among other things: (i) approximately 24 percent of consumers do not have savings set aside for emergencies, “while 39 percent have less than a month of income saved for emergencies and 37 percent have at least a month of income saved for emergencies,” and (ii) “41 percent of consumers with no more than a high school or vocational degree have no emergency savings, [while] the share is 6 percent for those with a college degree.”
OCC releases 2021 4Q mortgage performance results
On March 22, the OCC announced the release of the OCC Mortgage Metrics Report, Fourth Quarter 2021, its quarterly report of the performance of seven national bank mortgage servicers representing 22 percent of all outstanding residential mortgages. As explained in the report, servicers initiated 1,294 new foreclosures in the fourth quarter of 2021—a 39.9 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 64 percent increase from a year ago. The impact of Covid-19, including foreclosure moratoriums, significantly affected these metrics, the OCC stated. Servicers also completed 47,488 mortgage modifications in the fourth quarter, up 40.8 percent from the previous quarter. Of these modifications, “70.5 percent reduced borrowers’ monthly payments, and 46,475, or 97.9 percent, were ‘combination modifications’—modifications that included multiple actions affecting the affordability and sustainability of the loan, such as an interest rate reduction and a term extension,” the OCC reported.