Tag Archives: Delinquency Rate

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York says it's seeing ""signs of healing"" in consumer credit markets, as evidenced by a decline in new foreclosures, bankruptcies, and mortgage delinquencies during the first three months of this year. About 368,000 borrowers had a foreclosure notation added to their credit reports in the first quarter, while new bankruptcies dropped to 434,000. At the same time, about 2.4 percent of current mortgage balances transitioned into delinquency, the second straight quarterly improvement in this measure.

The national unemployment rate rose to 9.0 percent in April, up from 8.8 percent in March, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor. Employers added 244,000 new jobs to their payrolls last month, but the government agency says the number of unemployed was little changed at 13.7 million, as people who had previously given up looking for work resumed their search. Job creation in the private sector accounted for all of last month's gains.

The nation's second largest mortgage company reported Wednesday that it pulled in net income of $676 million during the first three months of this year. Freddie Mac closed the quarter with positive net worth of $1.2 billion. As a result, no additional funding from Treasury was required for the first quarter of 2011. It's the first time since the fourth quarter of 2009 that the company has not needed to draw on taxpayer support. REO dispositions reached record levels in the first quarter with approximately 30,000 homes sold.

After three consecutive months in which the delinquency rate on loans held in U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) showed signs of leveling off, the rate re-accelerated in April, Trepp LLC reported Wednesday. The New York-based research firm says the percentage of loans 30-plus days delinquent, in foreclosure, or REO climbed 23 basis points last month to hit 9.65 percent. That number is, once again, the highest reading in the history of the CMBS market.

A new report released by Lender Processing Services this week (LPS) indicates foreclosure activity picked up significantly during the month of March. LPS says the foreclosure inventory stood at 2.2 million loans as of the end of March - a new all-time high. The number of new foreclosure actions increased 33 percent from the previous month. At the same time, though, delinquencies dropped to their lowest level since 2008. LPS says new problem loans are now less than half 2009's peak levels.

An estimated 210,000 homeowners received permanent, proprietary loan modifications from mortgage servicers during the first quarter of 2011, according to data released by HOPE NOW Monday. That's down nearly 20 percent from the fourth quarter of last year, and 40 percent fewer than the third quarter of 2010. While the quarterly totals indicate a significant slide in modification activity, servicers reported an uptick during March, but HOPE NOW's data also show an increase in foreclosure activity for the month.

Fannie Mae has released new details on its book of business, which shows the share of mortgages it owns or guarantees that's past due by three months or longer has been on a steady decline for a year now. The nation's largest mortgage company reported that its seriously delinquent rate on single-family mortgage loans slipped to 4.44 percent in February of this year. That's down just 1 basis point from 4.45 percent in January, but it marks the 12th straight month that the rate has decreased.

The recovery in delinquency rates that began in the second quarter of 2010 appears to have stalled, according to the research firm Trepp LLC. Based on earnings reports and call report filings from banks, Trepp is offering its preliminary estimates of delinquency data for the first quarter, ahead of official numbers to be released by banking regulators in a few weeks. For first-lien single-family mortgages, the company is forecasting a total delinquency rate of 12.7 percent, down only slightly from 12.8 percent the previous quarter.

The percentage of home loans going unpaid is steadily declining for the nation's second largest mortgage company. Freddie Mac reported Tuesday that its single-family seriously delinquent rate decreased to 3.63 percent in March. That's down 15 basis points from 3.78 percent in February, and the fourth consecutive month that the rate has headed south. With only a few intermittent blips upward over the last year, Freddie has recorded a drop in its seriously delinquent rate in nine of the past 12 months.

As home prices began heading further and further south, the term ""strategic default"" made its way into industry jargon...and into the minds of lending and servicing professionals already struggling to keep up with large volumes of borrowers who actually can't afford their mortgage payments. It's a fairly new phenomenon that the industry agrees needs addressing, but the problem is, how do you pinpoint a strategic defaulter? The credit assessment firm FICO says it's developed a method, using consumer behavior analytics, that will allow lenders to identify borrowers who might walk away.