WASHINGTON–Mortgage performance improved at national banks by the end of the third quarter even though foreclosures at those financial institutions increased significantly, according to new federal data.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said its latest Mortgage Metrics Report for Q3 2021 show 95.6% of mortgages at banks were reported as current and performing, up from 92.5% at the end of the same period a year earlier.
But the same data also reveal foreclosures increased 150.7% from one year earlier, and are up 56.3% from the second quarter. In all, the OCC said there were 925 new foreclosures during the third quarter of 2021, with the expiration of many foreclosure moratoriums being cited as the primary reason.
Other Key Points
Other data points in the report:
- Seriously delinquent mortgages (60 days or more past due) had fallen to 3.1% from 5.8% a year earlier (and from 3.8% the prior quarter), the OCC reported. The numbers also include those mortgages held by bankrupt borrowers whose payments are 30 or more days past due.
- 33,721 mortgage modifications were completed by servicers in the third quarter of 2021, a decrease of 14.8% from the previous quarter. Of the mortgage modifications, 59.6% reduced borrowers’ monthly payments and 98.3% were “combination modifications” that included multiple actions affecting affordability and sustainability of the loan, such as an interest-rate reduction and a term extension, according to the OCC.
First-lien mortgages at the banks covered by the report account for 23% of all residential mortgage debt outstanding,– about 12.5 million loans representing $2.59 trillion in principal