Mortgage servicers face an uphill battle

In today’s Daily Download episode, HW+ Managing Editor Brena Nath discusses some of the biggest challenges facing U.S. mortgage servicers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To get a reading on how people in the mortgage industry are handling the ever-changing impact of coronavirus, HousingWire surveyed its own LendingLife readers and received dozens of replies on how they’re handling the current lending environment. The answers from these lenders vary drastically from person to person, showing there is no one-size-fits-all solution for getting through this crisis.

One Texas-based sales manager stated his company has taken multiple steps during the coronavirus pandemic, including temporarily raising minimum FICOs on all government loans to 640 and suspending non-traditional credit and all bond and DPA programs. Echoing similar challenges, another respondent working at a Denver-based brokerage said he now operates with a limited range of available offerings and overlays that threaten to terminate a borrower who would otherwise be qualified.

Following the main story, HousingWire Digital Producer Alcynna Lloyd covers what three prominent industry leaders theorize the housing market could behave like after the coronavirus pandemic. She also takes a look at RENTCafé’s report that indicates an upturn in U.S. multifamily apartment searches, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s declaration that borrowers in forbearance living in homes owned by the GSEs will never be required to make up missed payments in a lump sum.

The Daily Download examines the most captivating articles reported from the HousingWire newsroom. Each afternoon, HousingWire provides its readers with a deeper look into the stories that are not only chronicling the biggest announcements within the housing finance industry but are also helping Move Markets Forward. Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd.

HousingWire articles covered in this episode:

• We asked lenders about their biggest challenges right now — here’s what they said
• What does the mortgage industry’s post-pandemic future hold?
• Apartment searches have rebounded
• Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac remind borrowers and servicers that mortgages in forbearance do not need to paid back all at once