Mortgage Relief and Housing Assistance
Is there any relief for homeowners?
Under the CARES Act, any homeowner with an FHA, VA, USDA, 184/184A mortgage, or a mortgage backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac who is experiencing financial hardship is eligible for up to six months of forbearance on their mortgage payments, with a possible extension for another six months. At the end of the forbearance, borrowers can work with their servicer to participate in the relevant agency’s post-forbearance loss mitigation options to help them get back on track with payments. These options may include a deferral or partial claim, which allow borrowers to add missed payments to the end of the loan, or loan modifications, but options vary by the type of loan. Borrowers will have to pay missed payments at some point during the loan, so if borrowers can pay, they should continue to do so.
Will homeowners be foreclosed on if they can’t make their loan payments?
The CARES Act included a 60-day foreclosure moratorium starting on March 18, 2020, for all federally backed mortgage loans. Borrowers with FHA, VA, USDA, or 184/184A loans, or loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will not see foreclosure actions and cannot be removed from their homes due to foreclosure during that time
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has extended its foreclosure and eviction moratorium on mortgages backed by the Federal Home Administration until March 31, 2021.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has extended its foreclosure and eviction moratorium on mortgages backed by the USDA Single Family Housing Direct and Guaranteed loans until March 31, 2021.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has extended its foreclosure and eviction moratorium on mortgages backed by the VA until March 31, 2021.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) will extend the moratoriums on single-family foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) evictions until March 31, 2021. The foreclosure moratorium applies to Enterprise-backed, single-family mortgages only. The REO eviction moratorium applies to properties that have been acquired by an Enterprise through foreclosure or deed -in -lieu of foreclosure transactions.
Will multifamily property owners be foreclosed on if they can’t make loan payments?
The CARES Act provided owners of multifamily properties with federally backed loans who are facing financial hardship up to 90 days of forbearance on their loan payments. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac allow multifamily borrowers to receive a second 90-day forbearance if requested. Property owners would have to request the forbearance and document their hardship in order to qualify, in 30-day increments. During a forbearance period, the property owner may not evict or initiate the eviction of a tenant for nonpayment of rent and may not charge the tenant any fees or penalties for nonpayment of rent. Multifamily borrowers with loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain eligible to seek forbearance through March 31, 2021.
Is there any relief for renters?
Emergency Rental Assistance: The December 2020 COVID-19 relief bill provided substantial new resources for emergency rental assistance programs run through states, communities with populations over 200,000, tribes, and territories. Eligible renters can qualify for up to 15 months of assistance for rent, rental arrears, utilities, and utility arrears and related housing costs. They may also qualify for housing stability services established by the grantee. The program will be run by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is required to distribute grant funds to eligible grantees by the end of January 2021. Treasury’s Emergency Rental Assistance website contains initial information about the program, but does not take applications from renters.
Additional rental assistance may be available in your community.
CDC Eviction Moratorium: On September 4, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an order banning evictions for certain renters and extended this order through March 31, 2021. The CDC is issuing the eviction moratorium to protect public health and prevent further spread of COVID-19.
To be eligible for eviction protections under the order, residents must sign a declaration form (see link below) and meet the requirements outlined in the order, which are also described in the declaration form.
The declaration form is available at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-eviction-declaration.html
CARES Act Eviction Moratorium (expired July 24, 2020): The expired CARES Act eviction moratorium provided 120 days of eviction relief for tenants in rental housing that is federally insured or backed. You should not have been served with an eviction notice solely for nonpayment of rent before July 25, 2020, and any notice must have provided you with at least 30 days to leave the property (August 24, 2020). During the 120-day eviction moratorium, your landlord was prohibited from charging you late fees, penalties, or other charges for paying your rent late. It’s important to note that the eviction moratorium did not relieve you of your obligation to pay your rent. It merely forbid your landlord from evicting you during that period for late payment.
For more information visit:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/coronavirus/mortgage-and-housing-assistance/
The U.S. Housing and Urban Development
https://www.hud.gov/coronavirus
The Federal Housing Finance Agency
