My family and I were very lucky to have no damage at all from Irma. A half day of raking, and finding a cat (temporarily named Irma, of course), fostering her for 3 days, then finding her owners and returning her.
But I was without power at my office for the full week. So I am honestly feeling the pinch from the hurricane.
Of course I had nothing but time to be on Facebook all day… and the amount of scams and misinformation is out of control.
“Your mortgage company MUST give you 3 months forbearance on your mortgage and put it to the back of the loan!”
X – False
Your mortgage company MIGHT do that, but they are not required.
I cannot stress this enough: call your mortgage company and ask them for the relief they offer. Take very good notes, get the representative’s name, and try to get it in writing.
Here are some of the offers currently, which I will try to update:
Wells Fargo – no current offers of forbearance. They will stop negative credit reporting and late fees for 3 months. They might come out with forbearance options in the next two weeks.
OCWEN – if you are in bankruptcy, or discharged from bankruptcy, you get…. NOTHING. No offers at all right now. Otherwise, they are offering a 3 month forbearance, then you must get current in the 6 months after the forbearance.
New York Community Bank – 3 month forbearance starting in September (Sept-Oct-Nov payments), all skipped payments due on Dec 1.
Freddie Mac Loans – lenders of Freddie Mac owned loans are “authorized” to give up to 12 months forbearance. The keyword is authorized. They don’t have to offer it.
Seacoast Bank – I have one unconfirmed account of someone getting a 3 month forbearance put to the end of the loan. If true, this is the benefit of your loan being with a small local bank.
Fifth Third Bank – three month forbearance, no late fees, no negative credit reporting. Must make up 3 payments in month 4.
Flagstar Bank – three month forbearance, no late fees, no negative credit reporting. Must make up 3 payments in month 4.
Please verify even if your mortgage company is on the list! Programs keep changing.
Homeowners beware! Do not fall into the trap of thinking you get 3 months off your mortgage payment and only have to worry about it at the end of a 15 or 30 year mortgage.
Do NOT go on a spending spree thinking it will be years before you have to make up the payments. Odds are you have to make them up rather quickly… meaning you are better off staying current.
Please make sure you call your mortgage company and find out what they are offering you, if anything, on your mortgage. Just because someone else with the same mortgage company as you supposedly got an offer does not mean it is true, or that you will get the same offer.