WASHINGTON – Jan. 25, 2010 – At-risk homeowners with FHA-insured mortgage loans are now eligible for loss mitigation assistance before they fall behind on their mortgage payments. Previously, homeowners weren’t eligible until they missed payments.
The Helping Families Save Their Home Act of 2009 expanded FHA’s authority to use its loss mitigation tools to assist FHA borrowers avoid foreclosure, including those facing “imminent default” as defined by the Secretary.
“Loss mitigation assistance is beneficial to both borrowers and FHA because it helps borrowers retain their homes while protecting the FHA insurance fund from unnecessary losses,” says FHA Commissioner David Stevens. “Now servicers will have additional options for those borrowers who seek help before they go delinquent.”
The change is effective immediately under FHA’s Home Affordable Modification Program (FHA-HAMP) (http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/nsc/rep/hampfact.pdf) with the following rules:
• FHA defines “FHA borrower facing imminent default” to be current or less than 30 days past due on the mortgage obligation and experiencing a significant reduction in income or some other hardship that will prevent him or her from making the next required payment on the mortgage.
• A forbearance agreement allows the loan servicer to postpone, reduce or suspend payments due on a loan for a limited and specific time period.
• FHA-HAMP allows qualified FHA-insured borrowers to reduce their monthly mortgage payment to an affordable level by permanently reducing the payment through the use of a partial claim combined with a loan modification. The partial claim defers the repayment of a portion of the mortgage principal through an interest-free subordinate mortgage that is not due until the first mortgage is paid off. The remaining balance is then modified through re-amortization and, in some cases, an interest rate reduction.
The borrower must be able to document the cause of an imminent default, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following types of hardship:
1. A reduction in or loss of income that was supporting the mortgage loan, e.g., unemployment, reduced job hours, reduced pay, or a decline in self-employed business earnings. A scheduled temporary shutdown of the employer, (such as for a scheduled vacation), would not in and of itself be adequate to support an imminent default.
2. A change in household financial circumstances, e.g., death in family, serious or chronic illness, permanent or short-term disability.
Loan servicers must document the basis for its determination that a payment default is imminent and retain all documentation used to reach its conclusion. The servicer’s documentation must also include information on the borrower’s financial condition.
Additional information and guidance can be found on HUD’s website. (www.hud.gov).