Mortgages in the time of Covid 19

These are incredibly unusual times, of course.

If you are a homeowner, there may be some help available to you.  If your mortgage is owned by one of the two very large "government sponsored enterprises" you may be able to get some relief.  One of these two is Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae;  the other is the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), known as Freddie Mac.  These two companies own a large portion of all home mortgages.  

Basically, the help is that, if your income is hurt by the this pandemic, you may be able to defer some of your monthly payments.  This means that the payments will be delayed, but not forgiven.

Here is a clip from the FHFA.gov website:  

 Help For Homeowners
If your ability to pay your mortgage is impacted, and your loan is owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (use the "loan lookup" tools: https://www.knowyouroptions.com/loanlookup for Fannie Mae or https://ww3.freddiemac.com/loanlookup/ for Freddie Mac to find out), you may be eligible to delay making your monthly mortgage payments for a temporary period, during which:

     You won’t incur late fees. 
     Foreclosure and other legal proceedings will be suspended        

If you have trouble catching up at the end of this temporary relief period, additional assistance may be available.  You can work with your servicer to resume making a mortgage payment.  Or if you need additional assistance, you can work with your servicer on other foreclosure prevention options to keep your home.

Contact your mortgage servicer (the company where you send your monthly payments) as soon as possible to let them know about your current circumstances. The telephone number and mailing address of your mortgage servicer should be listed on your monthly mortgage statement. 

****************

If you cannot get enough help through the above, or if your mortgage does not qualify for this sort of relief, we may be able help you catch up through the legal system.  Each case is different -- but feel free to call my office and set up a time to discuss matters.