Ginnie Mae Cuts Fha Loans Delinquency Counts on April 2
Ginnie Mae will temporarily exclude fha loans in Trial Payment Plan status from issuer delinquency ratio calculations beginning with reporting due April 2, 2026. The shift changes how compliance is measured, not how the loans are reported month by month. Issuers get relief on a ratio that has been distorted by a policy-driven jump in trial plans.
3.57% of FHA loans that were 90 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure or bankruptcy, were delinquent in September 2025, rising to 5.23% in January 2026. The increase followed the Federal Housing Administration’s October 2025 change to its loss mitigation waterfall, which required borrowers to complete a trial payment plan before certain relief options, including partial claims, could move forward. That sequence pushed more loans into trial status before they could advance.
Joseph Gormley on April 24
Joseph Gormley said in an April 24 memorandum that the volume of trial payment plans is expected to normalize as the policy matures. Ginnie Mae also said it will monitor the effect of these loans on issuer delinquency performance and give at least 60 days’ notice before returning to its standard calculation through a future memorandum. For issuers, the practical change is immediate: loans in trial payment plans will still appear as delinquent in standard monthly loan-level reporting, but they will no longer count against compliance ratios during the temporary pause.
Ginnie Mae's March report
9.2% was the average FHA delinquency rate in Ginnie Mae’s March report from October 2025 through February 2026, up 90 basis points (hundredths of a percent) from the prior year. Early-stage delinquencies averaged 5.2% in that period, while 60-day delinquencies hovered around 1.8%. The report said a meaningful deterioration in mortgage credit performance would normally show up in a rapid increase in loans moving from current status or early-stage delinquency into 90-plus-day delinquency, but, in its words, “The data does not show such a shift,” which points to a reporting anomaly rather than a broad deterioration in borrower finances.
April 2, 2026 is the date issuers need to watch because that is when March 2026 data starts flowing through the temporary calculation change. Once the exclusion takes effect, compliance pressure tied to trial payment plan loans should ease even though the underlying delinquency labels stay in monthly reporting. Ginnie Mae has left open the possibility of revisiting the delinquency threshold policy in a wider context, but the immediate rule is simple: the loans remain delinquent, and they stop weighing on issuer ratios.
