March 2, 2015
FHA borrowers who get in trouble on their FHA mortgages are urged to be proactive about their situation in order to avoid defaulting on the FHA loan and risking foreclosure. The FHA has help available starting with advice for borrowers in this situation–you can find this advice on the FHA official site at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/avoiding_foreclosure .
But the FHA has also issued guidance to lenders and loan officers telling financial institutions what the government expects the lender to do in cases where the borrower becomes delinquent on the FHA mortgage loan. Case in point, the recent FHA mortgagee letter titled, “Revised Notification to Homeowners of Availability of Housing Counseling Services”.
According to this mortgagee letter, dated February 4 2015, “Mortgagees must provide delinquent borrowers with a notice describing the availability of housing counseling offered by HUD-approved housing counseling agencies and by the mortgagee. Mortgagees are currently required to prepare such a notice that provides the information required by FHA. To increase the effectiveness of this notice, FHA has prepared a model template of the notice that is user-friendly and designed to ensure borrowers understand how housing counselors can assist them.”
Participating lenders are required to provide delinquent FHA borrowers with information concerning, “the availability of housing counseling services provided by HUD-approved housing counseling agencies”. The lender is also responsible for giving delinquent borrowers, “instructions for locating a HUD-approved housing counseling agency in the borrower’s area and includes the HUD toll free telephone number (800) 569-4287, through which borrowers can obtain a list of housing counseling agencies.”
Such housing counseling is crucial in the effort to avoid foreclosure–a borrower should know all his or her options including loan modification, foreclosure forbearance, and other programs that might be available to help the borrower.
Contact the FHA directly at 1-800 CALL FHA for more information on foreclosure avoidance and related issues.
Do you have questions about FHA home loans? Ask us in the comments section. All comments are held for review.
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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