Allowance for Loan Losses (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Financing Receivable, Allowance for Credit Loss

The following table displays changes in our allowance for single-family loans, multifamily loans and total allowance for loan losses, including the transition impact of adopting Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-13, “Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326), Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments,” which was later amended by ASU 2019-04, ASU 2019-05 and ASU 2019-1 (collectively, the “CECL standard”), on January 1, 2020. See “Note 1, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” in our 2020 Form 10-K for additional information on changes to our allowance for loan losses resulting from our adoption of the CECL standard.

The benefit or provision for loan losses excludes provision for accrued interest receivable losses, guaranty loss reserves and credit losses on available-for-sale (“AFS”) debt securities. Cumulatively, these expenses are recognized as “Benefit (provision) for credit losses” in our condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.


		For the Three Months Ended March 31,
		2021		2020
	(Dollars in millions)
Single-family allowance for loan losses:
Beginning balance		$	(9,344)	$	(8,759)
Transition impact of the adoption of the CECL standard		—		(1,229)
Benefit (provision) for loan losses		671		(2,177)
Write-offs		71		70
Recoveries		(2)		(3)
Other		57		28
Ending Balance		$	(8,547)	$	(12,070)
Multifamily allowance for loan losses:
Beginning balance		$	(1,208)	$	(257)
Transition impact of the adoption of the CECL standard		—		(493)
Benefit (provision) for loan losses		95		(407)
Write-offs		33		19
Recoveries		(1)		(1)

Ending Balance		$	(1,081)	$	(1,139)
Total allowance for loan losses:
Beginning balance		$	(10,552)	$	(9,016)
Transition impact of the adoption of the CECL standard		—		(1,722)
Benefit (provision) for loan losses		766		(2,584)
Write-offs		104		89
Recoveries		(3)		(4)
Other		57		28
Ending Balance		$	(9,628)	$	(13,209)