CFPB Issues Report on Borrower Mortgage Servicing Experiences During Pandemic

CFPB recently issued a report on the experience of borrowers working with their servicer to access loss mitigation or other programs that were available during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Based on self-reported mortgage payment distress survey data from October 2020 to February 2021, the CFPB came to the following three primary conclusions:

• The three most common problems distressed respondents reported reflect difficulty accessing loss mitigation programs.  While almost half of distressed respondents reported that they did not think they qualified for a program or that they did not know how or where to apply for a program, one quarter of such respondents reported that the application process was too much trouble.
• Over 1 in 5 distressed respondents reported speaking a language other than English at home, while around 1 in 15 reported both speaking a language other than English at home and speaking English less than very well, reflecting national averages.
• Among distressed respondents who received forbearance, more than one-third were unclear about what would happen at the end of the forbearance period and how to repay suspended payments. 

According to the Bureau, its findings suggest that the complexity of processes for receiving help with payment difficulties may have created barriers to accessing loss mitigation for some borrowers, and these barriers may have been relatively higher for distressed borrowers with limited English proficiency.  Moreover, the CFPB concluded that communication appears to play an important role for distressed borrowers.