Banks and thrifts have modified more than 1.5 million mortgages since 2008. Foreclosures set a record, while serious delinquency was at its lowest level in five quarters.
The count was based on the third-quarter Mortgage Metrics Report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision.
The report reflected data on 33,326,073 first-lien loans for $5.811 trillion that were serviced by national banks and federally regulated thrifts as of Sept. 30. Outstandings were fewer than the 34,024,601 loans for $5.999 trillion a year earlier. The loans accounted for 64 percent of outstanding U.S. mortgages.
Of the Sept. 30 total, 69 percent had prime credit scores of at least 660, 11 percent had an Alt-A score of at least 620 and 8 percent had subprime credit scores that were less than 620. Credit scores on the rest of the loans weren’t identified.
Delinquency of at least 30 days ended the third quarter at 12.6 percent, the same as the quarter before and lower than 12.8 percent a year before. Included in the Sept. 30 late-payment rate was a 3.6 percent foreclosure rate — the highest on record — and a 5.8 percent 60-day rate — the lowest serious delinquency rate in over five quarters.
“Government-guaranteed mortgages performed worse than the overall portfolio,” the report said. “Mortgages serviced for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac performed better than the overall portfolio because of their higher concentration of prime mortgages.”
Prime delinquency of between 30 and 59 days was unchanged from the second quarter at 1.7 percent. But the rate was up 4 basis points for both Alt-A and subprime borrowers — who tend to be the first to default as delinquency rises.
Of 470,321 home-retention actions in the third quarter, 233,853 were permanent loan modifications. Driven by a sharp dropoff in Home Affordable Modification Program activity, the volume of modifications was off 13 percent from the prior three-month period.
Since the beginning of 2008, 1,506,025 modifications have been completed by the institutions through June 30. At the end of the latest period, 48 percent were current or paid in full, 10 percent were 30 days delinquent and nearly one-quarter were seriously delinquent. Modified mortgages in foreclosure accounted for 9 percent of modified loans.
The worst performing vintage of modifications — those done during 2008 — had a non-current rate of 74 percent.
