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44 | M R EP O RT SERVICING THE LATEST O R I G I NAT I O N S E R V I C I N G DATA G O V E R N M E N T S E C O N DA R Y M A R K E T Homeowners Continue to Face Challenges After the Pandemic "We will be closely monitoring mortgage servicer performance to ensure that they are meeting their obligations under the law," said Rohit Chopra, Director, CFPB. T he Consumer Finan- cial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has published a new report examin- ing 16 large mortgage servicers' responses to the COVID-19 pan- demic. Collected between May and December 2021, data reveals that homeowners continue to face "significant risks and chal- lenges" connected to working with their mortgage servicers when struggling to make pay- ments after exiting forbearance. "While many mortgage ser- vicers are successfully assisting borrowers to avoid foreclosure, today's report highlights that some servicers are lagging their peers and are less well-equipped to assist borrowers who have exited pandemic housing protec- tions," said Rohit Chopra, the CFPB Director. "We will be closely monitoring mortgage ser- vicer performance to ensure that they are meeting their obligations under the law." The Mortgage Metric Report found that at the end of 2021, some 330,000 homeowners had delinquent loans with no loss mitigation plan in place. Buyers cited the main reason they were not on a forbearance plan was their difficulty, or inability, to reach a mortgage servicer's call center. "Mortgage servicer call centers are vital links between the homeowner and servicer that answer homeowners' ques- tions and provide them with information to make important decisions about their loans," the CFPB said. "The extent of these challenges varied significantly among servicers." Oversight on mortgage servicers has been prioritized throughout the pandemic. The data for this report was based on responses and examinations from 16 servicers, which repre- sent a cross-section of industry as a whole. Metrics in the report include call center metrics, COVID-19 hardship forbearance exits, delinquency rates, and bor- rower profiles. Key findings from the report include: • Many borrowers exited COVID-19 hardship forbear- ance with no loss mitiga- tion solution in place. The 16 servicers reported that over 330,000 borrowers' loans remained delinquent—with no loss mitigation solution in place—at the end of 2021. Delinquency rates were higher for private loans—between 25% and 39%–than for feder- ally backed loans—between 11% and 17%. While servicers have made progress work- ing through delinquent loans, exiting a COVID-19 hardship forbearance with no loss miti- gation solution in place puts a borrower at a heightened risk of foreclosure. • Some mortgage servicers sig- nificantly lag industry peers in call center response times. Call metrics showed average hold times of more than 10 minutes and call abandonment rates ex- ceeding 30% for some servicers. The call metrics indicate that some borrowers may have dif- ficulty establishing live contact and obtaining assistance over the phone to resolve their mortgage questions or chal- lenges. These metrics varied among servicers, with some servicers performing well and others poorly. • Data on borrowers' language preferences remained limited. While the CFPB consistently has recommended that ser- vicers collect and maintain information on borrowers' preferred language, several servicers marked that many of their borrowers' preferred lan- guage was unknown. Among the servicers who provided language preference data, the percentage of borrowers in delinquency and who had a non-English language prefer- ence, increased during the reviewed period. Conversely, the percentage of borrowers in delinquency and who identi- fied English as their preferred language, decreased. Recent action by the Federal Housing Finance Agency requiring mortgage originators to inquire about language preference at the time of origination could help close the gap in delin- quency rates between English and non-English speakers. • Some mortgage servicers relied on systems that could not provide information on key metrics. Some servicers did not track or were otherwise unable to provide several re- quested metrics. Additionally, some servicers reported incon- sistent data. The report notes that some servicers are not fully able to track and report high-quality data. The CFPB is concerned about whether these servicers can ensure that all borrowers, and particularly those borrowers most in need of assistance, receive adequate and timely assistance in com- pliance with federal consumer financial protection law. "While many mortgage servicers are successfully assisting borrowers to avoid foreclosure, today's report highlights that some servicers are lagging their peers and are less well-equipped to assist borrowers who have exited pandemic housing protections." — Rohit Chopra, Director, CFPB