by Calculated Risk on 5/26/2020 04:00:00 PM

Note: To put these numbers in perspective, the MBA notes "For the week of March 2, only 0.25% of all loans were in forbearance."

From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Increases to 8.36%

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance increased from 8.16% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 8.36% as of May 17, 2020. According to MBA’s estimate, 4.2 million homeowners are now in forbearance plans.
...
“Although job losses continue at extremely high rates, mortgage servicers are reporting only modest increases in the share of loans in forbearance as of May 17,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “The decline in employment and income is hitting FHA and VA borrowers harder, leading to 11.6 percent of Ginnie Mae loans currently in forbearance.”

Added Fratantoni, “Forbearance requests declined relative to the prior week, and while call volume picked up, servicers appear well staffed for this volume, as wait times and abandonment rates dropped.”
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the weekly forbearance requests as a percent of servicer's portfolio volume.

The requests peaked in the week of March 30th to April 5th.

The MBA notes: "Forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) dropped across all investor types for the sixth consecutive week relative to the prior week: from 0.32% to 0.28%."