Over 4 million Americans are now skipping their mortgage payments

Published: May 19, 2020 at 1:28 p.m. ET
By Jacob Passy
The pace of homeowners requesting mortgage relief because of the coronavirus pandemic has slowed considerably

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Fewer Americans are calling their mortgage servicers to ask for relief from mortgage payments, but the housing industry isn’t out of the woods yet.

More than 4.1 million homeowners are in forbearance plans now, according to the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

While mortgage servicers are still facing stress because of the record deluge of requests for payment relief, signs suggest that homeowners’ prospects have improved as parts of the country have begun to emerge from coronavirus stay-at-home orders.

Overall, 8.16% of all mortgages were in forbearance as of May 10, meaning borrowers can either skip or make reduced payments, the trade group said. That was up from 7.91% as of May 3, which is the smallest increase since March. Forbearance requests dropped from 0.52% of the total mortgage volume to 0.32%.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/over-4-million-americans-are-now-skipping-their-mortgage-payments-2020-05-18?mod=home-page

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Mortgage companies can require homeowners to pay the deferred portion in one lump sum. But in some cases, you may be able to negotiate with your mortgage servicer to pay extra each month until the deferred amount is repaid or add the suspended payments to the end of the loan. Another option is to apply for a loan modification, in which the loan company might add the deferred amount to the balance, increase the length of your loan or reduce the interest rate.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/13/success/mortgage-forbearance-coronavirus/index.html