Articles in Category: FHA Disaster Assistance

HUD Announces New Mortgage Relief Options For FHA Borrowers Affected By COVID-19

June 19, 2020

FHA And HUD Announce Extended Foreclosure Relief

Are you a homeowner with an FHA loan worried about your mortgage during the coronavirus pandemic? If so, you aren’t alone. Coronavirus outbreak containment policies–lockdowns, quarantines, and other necessary measures, have brought with them economic hardship from many Americans; loss of income creates and questions about future earnings can result in late and missed mortgage payments, increasing the risk of foreclosure. But during the pandemic, federal relief measures were drafted to help–and the FHA/HUD is no exception, requiring participating lenders to delay initiating or continuing foreclosures during the crisis. Now, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Administration have issued an extension (actually the second extension since the crisis began) of the foreclosure moratorium announced in March. The Old Deadline Wasn’t Sufficient The HUD official site | more...

May 15, 2020

FHA Extends Coronavirus Policies

By Joe Wallace

The Federal Housing Administration has issued a press release announcing an extension to coronavirus-related mortgage relief for American borrowers with FHA home loans. One major feature of that extension? More time on the FHA eviction and foreclosure moratorium issued on FHA mortgages. That moratorium now lasts until June 30, 2020. This applies to homeowners with “FHA-insured Title II Single Family forward and Home Equity Conversion (reverse) mortgages” according to the HUD official site. Until these measures expire, FHA lenders are directed to: Halt all new foreclosure actions; Suspend all foreclosure actions currently in process, excluding legally vacant or abandoned properties; Cease all evictions from FHA-insured Single Family properties; This excludes actions “to evict occupants of legally vacant or abandoned properties”. Also extended? The length of time for FHA’s temporary policies | more...

May 6, 2020

Home Loan Forbearance Options

By Bruce Reichstein

Are you one of the many Americans in need of mortgage loan forbearance during COVID-19? There are many different types of mortgages; FHA, VA, USDA, conventional…the options available to you may vary depending on the type of mortgage you have, whether you are current on your home loan payments at the time you request the help, and other factors. If you need to apply for mortgage forbearance, it is important to know the range of choices open to you not just for the forbearance period itself, but also for repaying the money you don’t pay now if you are approved. Some loan forbearance options may allow you to choose to stop making payments for up to a full year and choose a method to repay the year’s worth of delayed | more...

Reverse Mortgage And Foreclosure Relief Scams: What You Need To Know

April 16, 2020

HUD Issues More Guidance For COVID-19 Mortgage Relief

By Bruce Reichstein

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued guidance clarifying certain aspects of the coronavirus mortgage relief options; there are instructions for multi-family loans as well as for single-family FHA mortgages. Why are the multi-family rules good for the single-family borrower to understand? Borrowers with multi-family FHA loans who need of COVID-19 mortgage relief have similar requirements to those for single-family borrowers. If you know the approach your lender takes for FHA loans, you can make more fully informed choices about your loan including when to apply for economic relief and what options to choose. Borrowers have the option to request six months of loan forbearance or as much as a full year, depending on circumstances. Should you take the full year? Cut off the relief as soon as | more...

April 13, 2020

Are You In Trouble On Your FHA Mortgage Loan?

By Joe Wallace

Are you having trouble making your FHA home loan payments? Is the coronavirus emergency made it financially difficult to stay current on your mortgage loan? There have been a variety of relief measures proposed and announced, but many of them are more general types of assistance. The FHA and HUD published an announcement discussing COVID-19 related mortgage relief for FHA borrowers affected by the coronavirus outbreak. This relief is specifically for those with mortgage loans guaranteed by the FHA including mortgages, reverse mortgages, etc. These measures were a welcome development for many FHA mortgage borrowers, but it is crucial for home owners to understand that until you contact your loan servicer, you cannot assume it’s safe to delay payments. You MUST make arrangements with your lender to claim the mortgage | more...

April 10, 2020

Protect Your FHA Home Loan From Foreclosure

By Bruce Reichstein

The federal government has offered a variety of economic stimulus programs to help those affected by COVID-19 and the coronavirus emergency. FHA, VA, and USDA lenders have been given updated instructions to help borrowers avoid loan default and foreclosure. Those instructions include a temporary foreclosure moratorium and options to help borrowers stay in their homes through loan modification and loan forbearance. Such alterations to the mortgage are designed to help borrowers avoid falling behind or falling farther behind on their mortgages. But what happens after these measures? FHA has announced something known as the COVID-19 National Emergency Partial Claim, described by an FHA/HUD press release as “an option to be used by servicers” once the COVID-19 FHA loan forbearance period concludes. Borrowers who have trouble paying their mortgages during COVID-19 | more...

April 9, 2020

FHA Announces Updated COVID-19 Guidance For Participating Lenders

By Joe Wallace

The FHA and HUD have announced policy changes to the FHA Single-Family home loan rulebook, HUD 4000.1. These changes were announced in FHA Mortgagee Letter 2020-06 and address loss mitigation procedures specifically for COVID-19 related economic hardship. The prior version of HUD 4000.1 did not include specific guidance for lenders trying to help borrowers avoid foreclosure due to coronavirus issues; the old instructions are updated to include policies for lenders to help borrowers via CARES Act measures signed into law to help struggling companies and workers. The new additions to HUD 4000.1 include a new Section addressing the “Presidentially-Declared COVID-19 National Emergency” guidance for lenders, which is effective immediately takes precedence over disaster relief guidance issued prior to the pandemic. FHA loan rules for presidentially declared major disaster areas in | more...

October 22, 2019

FHA Disaster Relief Changes

By Bruce Reichstein

In August of 2019, the FHA and HUD issued press releases and Mortgagee Letters describing changes to the FHA loss mitigation guidelines for those recovering from natural disasters in federally-declared natural disaster areas. The FHA states that the new rules affect homeowners who live or work in a “Presidentially-Declared Major Disaster Areas (PDMDAs) of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria or certain California Wildfires, Flooding, Mudflows, and Debris Flows” according to the HUD official site. Certain temporary measures the FHA and HUD passed in recent times to help improve disaster recovery in these areas are now made permanent. There are some features that have been added that streamline the application process for FHA loan relief, forbearance, and other measures. According to the HUD official site, lenders can use a recent bank | more...

September 4, 2019

HUD Disaster Resources

By Bruce Reichstein

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is reminding homeowners of the disaster resources available from federal agencies including HUD, the FHA, FEMA, and more. Those in federally declared disaster areas are eligible for special FHA home loan forbearance and other foreclosure avoidance measures. But loan forbearance and foreclosure avoidance are NOT automatic. All home owners still paying their mortgages at the time of the disaster should contact their lenders to discuss next steps and how to make arrangements to avoid home loan default and foreclosure. Lenders cannot help borrowers who do not do so, and it pays to be proactive, especially where FHA mortgages are concerned. FHA Foreclosure and Loss Mitigation Policy FHA lenders are given freedom to use “reasonable judgment in determining who is an ‘affected borrower’ in | more...

September 3, 2019

If Your Home Was Damaged In A Federally Declared Disaster Area

By Joe Wallace

Do you know what your FHA loan options are for recovering from natural disasters in federally-declared disaster areas? FHA home loan options include loan forbearance, FHA Rehab loans to replace or repair a damaged home, refinance options, and much more. The FHA, HUD, and FEMA all urge those who are affected to contact their loan officers immediately. It is never safe to assume any offered relief measures are automatic; you must usually make arrangements to get assistance, disaster relief, etc. Those who had properties secured by conventional mortgages at the time of the disaster may still be able to get help by applying for an FHA Rehab loan (mentioned above) that is specifically meant for those in federal disaster areas. FHA 203(h) loans (specifcially for disasters) can be used in | more...