There’s no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented economic hardship for so many, including those struggling to make their mortgage payments. That’s why Freddie Mac has joined with our clients to quickly provide affected homeowners with options to stay in their homes.
While the number of homeowners needing assistance has declined, we still have significant work to do. Our #HelpStartsHere initiative arms owners with the knowledge they need to make proactive and informed decisions now and in the future. Here’s what you need to know.
If you can’t make your monthly mortgage payment due to a COVID-19-related hardship, contact your Servicer – the mortgage company you send your monthly payment to – immediately. Ask about a forbearance option, which temporarily suspends or reduces your mortgage payment without penalty so you can get back on your feet. Tell your Servicer about your specific situation so they can provide you with the best and most appropriate mortgage relief options to help you get back on track.
Remember, if you’re having a hardship you are not alone. Hundreds of thousands of homeowners have reached out to a Freddie Mac Servicer to get started with a forbearance plan.
A few important items to remember about forbearance:
Once you get back on your feet and can start making your mortgage payment again, Freddie Mac has several post-forbearance options.
No less than 30 days prior to the end of your COVID-related forbearance, your Servicer will contact you proactively about your post-forbearance options – by phone, in person (if safe) or in writing. They will work with you to assess your situation and determine next steps.
The options available to you, including additional forbearance if needed, include:
To date, tens of thousands of homeowners have successfully used one of these post-forbearance options to get back on track. Our Servicers are well-versed in Freddie Mac’s post-forbearance relief options. And you don’t have to wait for your Servicer to contact you, especially if you can resume making your payments before your forbearance period ends.
Here are some important tools that will help you now and later.
I hope you’ll be one of the more than 15 million consumers who have turned to these resources to get more information since the pandemic started.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted Freddie Mac’s role of providing stability and liquidity to the housing market and the important role we play in a time of crisis. I’m proud of how fast Freddie Mac worked to provide support to nearly a million homeowners facing financial difficulty as a result of the pandemic.
We’re committed to sticking by them – and others who may face hardship—until we are all through this crisis and they are back on their feet.
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Danny Gardner
SVP Client and Community Engagement, Single-Family
Angi Locke
Interim Head of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer
Deborah Jenkins
EVP and Head of Multifamily Business
Mike Reynolds
Vice President of Single-Family Credit Risk Transfer
Christian Lown
EVP and Chief Financial Officer
Donna Corley
Executive Vice President, Head of Single-Family Business
Donna Corley is executive vice president and head of the Freddie Mac Single-Family business, where her responsibilities include managing the company's relationships with its Seller/Servicers, the performance of Freddie Mac's guarantee book of business, and all sourcing, servicing, risk management and business operations. For the past five years, she was the Single-Family chief risk officer, focused on bringing a fresh perspective to managing risk while leading a team of approximately 500 employees responsible for analyzing and managing the risks that impact Freddie Mac's Single-Family business of financing more than 1.5 million homes annually. Her team became a market leader, partnering with clients to build a bridge between Freddie Mac’s guidance and clients’ operational implementation of smart risk management practices. A 25-year Freddie Mac veteran, Corley began her Freddie Mac career as a research analyst and, subsequently, held various portfolio manager positions within the investment and capital markets division as well as led Freddie Mac’s credit pricing, risk transfer and securitization teams.