The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is warning mortgage lenders around the country to continue offering practical assistant to consumers who may be delinquent in their mortgage payments, promising oversight of the lending industry to ensure adherence to consumer safety regulations.
The CFPB said in a report this month that it surveyed 16 different mortgage providers and found that “some populations of borrowers at these servicers may have difficulty establishing live contact and obtaining assistance from some servicers.” Additionally, the bureau found that “growing numbers of borrowers are exiting COVID-19 hardship forbearances in a delinquent status, and some servicers are substantially underperforming their peers in key effectiveness metrics.”
The CFPB said that lenders should “enhance their communication capabilities and outreach efforts to educate and assist all borrowers in resolving delinquency and enrolling in widely available assistance and loss mitigation options.”
The agency also urged servicers to “ensure that their compliance management systems include robust measures to identify and mitigate fair lending risk.”
The bureau said it will continue to “hold servicers accountable for complying with existing Regulation X requirements.” Regulation X is a set of rules issued by the CFPB to protect consumers in the mortgage purchasing process.