There is no question that mortgage originators have faced difficulties the past few weeks when it comes to moving to remote work, handling the high levels of applications and requests for refinances and much more. But these issues are also carrying over to mortgage servicers.
No one could have predicted what would happen to the mortgage industry after COVID-19 began to spread. The mortgage application volume increased a full 55% in one week, and was up 479% from the year before as rates tumbled.
The Federal Reserve cut rates, and then cut rates again before even making it to the Federal Open Markets Committee’s March meeting. These rare inter-meeting cuts came after the worst stock market retreats since 2008, with the federal funds rate dropping to 0%.
But for servicers, the situation is much more dire as they face problems on multiple fronts caused by the virus, along with the increase in demand.
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