Articles Tagged With: Foreclosure Avoidance

August 3, 2020

Time Is Running Out For FHA Mortgage Loan Relief

Under the CARES Act passed in 2020 to help financially stricken Americans, all government-backed mortgages had foreclosure-avoidance measures instituted to protect homeowners from losing their homes during COVID-19. Those with VA, USDA, and FHA mortgages had all foreclosure actions suspended until the end of August 2020; the CARES Act forbids lenders and loan servicers “from beginning a judicial or non-judicial foreclosure against you, or from finalizing a foreclosure judgment or sale”. That foreclosure protection started March 18, 2020 but under the current version time is running out to act–these protections expire August 31, 2020. Those who have a financial hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic, may request an FHA loan forbearance for up to 180 days and an extension for an additional 180 days is also offered. This is NOT | more...

July 17, 2020

FHA And HUD Propose Revised FHA Loan Guidelines

By Bruce Reichstein

The FHA and HUD have proposed an overhaul of its single-family mortgage loan program with an eye on “expediting homeowner assistance and achieving operational efficiencies” designed to lower the costs of servicing FHA mortgages. The FHA has proposed a set of policies that–while not currently adapted and are under a review and industry comment period–are designed to “remove unnecessary barriers for homeowners seeking mortgage payment relief,” according to an FHA press release as well as “achieve operational consistency with industry standard best practices”, details of which are listed below. These proposed alterations come at a time of increased uncertainty as coronavirus outbreaks have increased across a large number of states and the threat of extended or additional lockdown measures looking large. The FHA and HUD seek to improve the ability | more...

July 9, 2020

FHA and HUD Announce Even More Home Loan Relief Options For Qualifying Home Owners

By Joe Wallace

Millions of home owners were affected by a loss of income and employment at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in America. And there was a lot of money on the table in the form of mortgage relief and stimulus payments, but what happens when the stimulus money is gone and the borrower gets to the end of a home loan forbearance period? The FHA and HUD have announced extended relief for FHA borrowers -relief specifically designed to help those who applied for FHA loan forbearance. A press release titled, “FHA Expands Home Retention Measures For Homeowners Financially Impacted By Covid-19” announces the measures, which are meant to help home owners bring their mortgage up to date at the end of the loan forbearance period. As of July 8, 2020, | more...

June 19, 2020

FHA And HUD Announce Extended Foreclosure Relief

By Joe Wallace

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...

June 4, 2020

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

By Bruce Reichstein

Mortgage scams and reverse mortgage scams involve people coming to you with offers to save you from a pending foreclosure, or offer you a reverse mortgage to help cash in on the equity you have built up in the home. But scammers aren’t there to help, they are there to profit from your problems; fortunately, there are ways to tell if you are being scammed and stop a con game dead in its’ tracks. Advice About Scams From The U.S. Government The Department of Justice offers advice about scams–have you been contacted by third party agencies without having contacted them first? What should you do to prevent being taken advantage of if you need foreclosure relief, or need a home equity loan or reverse mortgage? The first step–identifying the biggest | more...

May 20, 2020

Mortgage Relief Scams To Avoid

By Joe Wallace

In an age where millions of Americans have applied for coronavirus-related mortgage relief, there are also con artists at work trying to steal money they haven’t earned from people who cannot afford to lose what money they have. What should you be aware of to avoid being conned while seeking home loan relief or foreclosure avoidance? Beware Mortgage Relief Scammers Some scammers just make random phone calls, hoping to strike gold. Others are far more careful and methodical. In those cases, mortgage relief scams often rely on a con artist viewing public records of homes that may be in the pre-foreclosure process, targeting these owners and hoping to take advantage. One of the hallmarks of a mortgage relief scam? The scammer comes in with promises to save the home outright, | 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...

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...

the importance of credit for home loan approval

April 14, 2020

Common Questions About COVID-19 Mortgage Relief For FHA Borrowers

By Bruce Reichstein

If you have an FHA mortgage and are worried about your ability to make mortgage payments during the economic shutdown over the coronavirus. What should you do? The FHA has some advice for you on taking advantage of the mortgage relief options provided by the FHA and HUD during the coronavirus pandemic. The FHA official site advises FHA borrowers to do three things if you are able: Continue to make your monthly mortgage payments if you are able to do so; If you are unable to make your mortgage payment, contact your mortgage servicer and discuss your situation with a loss mitigation specialist. Contact a HUD-approved housing counseling agency (you can get a referral by calling 1-800 CALL FHA). Have you lost your job? Have you been laid off, furloughed | 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...