Biggest U.S. Banks Have More Than $150 Billion of Deferred Loans

(Bloomberg) -- The four largest U.S. banks had at least $151.5 billion of loans with payments in deferral at midyear as borrowers from small businesses to homeowners sought debt relief amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Programs vary among banks and account types, with Bank of America Corp. offering deferrals of as long as 60 days on consumer credit cards, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. giving clients rolling, three-month deferrals for as much as a year on residential mortgages. The two lenders, along with Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co., disclosed deferral details in their second-quarter filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Uncertainty over the length of the pandemic and resulting economic crisis have made it difficult for banks to determine how many loans are likely to sour. JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo set aside more than $32 billion for loan losses in the second quarter, close to a record, signaling that relief programs may not be enough to stave off a flood of bad debt.

The rapid rollout of forbearance programs in March averted financial ruin for millions of households, giving Congress time to bolster unemployment benefits and offer emergency aid to businesses. The goal was to avoid a tidal wave of defaults by borrowers who began losing income when states locked down commerce to slow infections.

Read more: A $150 billion pile of frozen loans starts to worry U.S. banks

The four biggest U.S. banks differ on how they report payment deferrals and loan modifications, and the total balance of financing with deferred payments is likely higher than $151.5 billion. While Wells Fargo, for example, reported $44.2 billion of consumer loans in deferral as of midyear, it said only that it modified $38.2 billion of commercial loans without disclosing the amount remaining in deferral by June 30.

Deferrals on residential mortgages and home-equity loans were a common theme across all four banks. The majority of Wells Fargo's consumer deferrals were on a combined $35 billion of first and second mortgages, representing 12% and 10% of each loan type, respectively. Almost 9% of JPMorgan's residential real estate portfolio was subject to payment deferrals, representing nearly three-quarters of the total $28.3 billion of consumer loans in deferral.

At Citigroup, consumer credit cards represented the largest portion of modified loans, with $6.9 billion of debt enrolled in deferral programs, or 5% of its North American credit-card business. The bank modified about $20 billion of consumer loans globally as of June 30.

Bank of America, which provided figures as of July 23, was deferring payments on $7.7 billion in commercial loans and $28.5 billion in consumer and small-business debt. About 7% of consumer-card balances received modifications, as did 20% of small-business card balances.

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