CFPB Releases Second Report on COVID-19 Mortgage Servicing Metrics

CFPB released a second report titled Mortgage Servicing COVID-19 Pandemic Response Metrics: New Observations from Data Reported by Sixteen Servicers for May-December 2021.  The first report of the same title was issued in August 2021 using the same sixteen servicers and covering the period of December 2020 through April 2021. 

Among other matters, key observations of the second report include:

• Hundreds of thousands of borrowers are still behind on loans after COVID-19 mortgage protections and forbearance end;
• Communication metrics including call center hold time variability, volume of consumer inquiries, the average amount of time that borrowers wait to speak to a representative, call abandonment rates, and the length of borrower calls reveal that borrowers may have difficulty establishing live contact to resolve challenges, answer questions and obtain assistance.  These problems contribute to higher delinquencies as well as forbearance exits with no loss mitigation solution; 
• Delinquency and exits from forbearance with no loss mitigation solution in place put borrowers at higher risk of foreclosure;
• Servicer data challenges, including reliance on systems that could not provide important metric information tracking as well as inconsistent data, raised concerns that some servicers may not be able to assure that borrowers are receiving adequate and timely options and assistance;
• The number of Borrowers with Limited English Proficiency (LEP borrowers) whose loans were delinquent without a loss mitigation option after exiting forbearance increased between October and December 2021, while the number of non-LEP borrowers who were delinquent without a loss mitigation option after forbearance decreased during the same period; and
• Some servicers, based on observations in the August 2021 report, are still underperforming compared to their peers in key metrics.