US Agencies Clarify Reporting of Debt Restructurings Amid COVID Crisis

FED, FDIC, and OCC note that efforts to work with borrowers of one-to-four family residential mortgages, where the loans are prudently underwritten and not 90 days or more past due or carried in nonaccrual status, will not result in the loans being considered restructured or modified for the purposes of their respective risk-based capital rules. The statement also outlines the conditions under which no further troubled debt restructuring analysis is required for each loan modification in the program. The agencies have confirmed with the FASB staff that short-term modifications made on a good faith basis in response to COVID-19 to borrowers who were current prior to any relief are not  troubled debt restructurings under the Accounting Standards Codification Subtopic 310-40. This includes short-term (for example, six months) modifications such as payment deferrals, fee waivers, extensions of repayment terms, or delays in payment that are insignificant. Borrowers considered current are those that are less than 30 days past due on their contractual payments at the time a modification program is implemented.

With regard to loans not otherwise reportable as past due, financial institutions are not expected to designate loans with deferrals granted due to COVID-19 as past due because of the deferral. A loan’s payment date is governed by the due date stipulated in the legal agreement. If a financial institution agrees to a payment deferral, this may result in no contractual payments being past due, and these loans are not considered past due during the period of the deferral. Each financial institution should refer to the applicable regulatory reporting instructions as well as its internal accounting policies, to determine if loans to stressed borrowers should be reported as nonaccrual assets in regulatory reports. However, during the short-term arrangement, loans generally should not be reported as nonaccrual. As more information becomes available indicating a specific loan will not be repaid, institutions should refer to the charge-off guidance in the instructions for consolidated reports of condition and income.

Related Links

• Joint Press Release
• Intragency Statement (PDF)
• FDIC Financial Institution Letter and FAQs

Keywords: Americas, US, Banking, Accounting, COVID-19, CARES Act, Credit Risk, Troubled Debt Structuring,  Regulatory Capital, Reporting, FASB, US Agencies