Skip Navigation
File a Consumer Complaint
Report a Robocall/Text
  • Robocall Hotline:(844)-8-NO-ROBO
  • All Other Complaints:(877)-5-NO-SCAM
  • Outside NC:919-716-6000
  • En Español:919-716-0058

Attorney General Josh Stein Commends FHFA Rule Change to Help Borrowers

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Contact:
Laura Brewer (919) 716-6484

(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today commended a Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) decision to offer a new mortgage payment deferral option for borrowers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new option allows borrowers who took a payment forbearance during the pandemic to repay their missed payments at the end of their loan term, instead of in one lump sum.

The change comes shortly after Attorney General Stein and a bipartisan coalition of 35 attorneys general sent a letter urging the organization to make this change.

“I am pleased that the FHFA is taking this action on behalf of struggling borrowers,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “I had encouraged the agency to make this change to repayment rules to provide meaningful and necessary financial relief for people financially distressed during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Under the CARES Act, eligible borrowers affected by the pandemic were granted access to forbearance plans, which allow them to pause mortgage payments for a limited period of 180 days. However, at the end of the period, forbearance payments were set to be due in a lump sum.

The recent action taken by the FHFA means that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will allow borrowers to repay their missed payments at the end of their loan. Under the new option, borrowers are eligible to shift as much as 12 months of payments to the end of the loan term if necessary.

More on Attorney General Stein’s work to protect North Carolinians during the COVID-19 pandemic:

###