The biggest surge was in the Ginnie Mae program, where 818,657 loans were classified as 30- to 60-days past due as of the end of April, or 7.02% of the overall Ginnie portfolio. That was up 352,397 loans from the end of March.

According to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, consumers owe $11.168 trillion on their first liens. If the new MBA forbearance reading is applied to that number, $883.3 billion of mortgages are in need of assistance, temporary or otherwise.

It's not hard to see why Fannie and Freddie like their CRT programs...

Fannie's lender-letter states: "We are temporarily suspending bulk transactions"...

GSE and government-insured loans accounted for 86.1% of the market in early 2020, a period that featured a historic nosedive in mortgage interest rates and frenetic volatility caused by the pandemic...

The $500 deferment fee is scheduled to take effect on July 1, pending approval from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

In addition, Fannie and Freddie have helped reduce face-to-face interactions during the closing process by expanding the use of powers of attorney and remote online notarizations.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae pumped out a record $236.8 billion of single-family MBS in April. The previous record was $232.1 billion, set in June 2009.

Fannie CEO Hugh Frater sees the COVID-19 forbearance count rising to 15% in the second quarter.

Fitch Ratings late last week put five GSE credit-risk deals on ratings watch. The outlook for 42 classes was lowered to outlook negative.