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The CARES act passed in response to the COVID-19 crisis does not prevent every bank from foreclosing on a home. There are protections afforded to borrowers if the loan is federally backed, that require the lender to provide you with the forbearance for 60 to 90 days. The forbearance is not forgiveness of the amounts due in the months in which the forbearance is granted, it is simply a reduction or a pause in making those payments. Somehow those payments will have to be made up. Is not clear if those will be made up through a modification, added onto the end of the loan, or repaid over a shorter period of time.
You must determine if your mortgage is federally backed to know what forbearance and foreclosure avoidance options are available to you. The federally backed mortgages are backed by: Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Veterans Affairs (VA), U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Home Service (RHS), Fannie Mae, AND Freddie Mac.
If your mortgage is FHA insured, there should be a FHA case number on the mortgage document, there should be specific language in the mortgage and note forms and will be paying an FHA premium located somewhere on your mortgage statement. If you’re not certain you may call HUD’s National Servicing Center at 877-622-8525.
If your mortgage is VA insured, the first thing you must be is a veteran, if you’re not a veteran you do not have a VA mortgage unless you assume the VA mortgage (and you would know that, because it is a very difficult thing to do). On your mortgage documents, you would see that it is a VA backed loan. You can look through the closing packet you received when you purchased your home you will find some documents that indicate it is a VA loan.
If you have a rural home service loan backed by the US Department of Agriculture, you most likely already know this. If you’re not certain you can review your closing documents or ask your servicer to review it and make that determination for you. Your servicer will know if you have an RHS loan.
If you think you have a mortgage backed by Finney Mae Freddie Mac you may use their easy lookup websites to determine if they own your mortgage. See https://www.knowyouroptions.com/loanlookup
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