Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are offering relief to the thousands of homeowners affected by the devastating floods in Louisiana via their mortgage servicers.
Under Fannie Mae’s disaster relief policies, servicers have the ability to:
- Grant an initial period of forbearance
- Postpone legal action in regards to the payment of a debt, to any borrower they believe has been affected by this natural disaster
- Request additional forbearance from Fannie Mae
- Temporarily suspend or reduce a homeowner’s mortgage payments for up to 90 days if the servicers believes a natural disaster made a home inhabitable or if the disaster prevents the homeowner from being able to make payments
Under Freddie Mac’s disaster relief policies, some of the options servicers can provide homeowners include:
- Suspending foreclosures by providing forbearance, the postponement of legal action in regards to the payment of a debt, for up to 12 months
- Waiving assessments of penalties or late fees against borrowers with disaster-damaged homes
- Not reporting forbearance or delinquencies caused by the disaster to the nation’s credit bureaus