Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced plans last week to extend their mortgage relief programs for unemployed borrowers while they are out of work. According to Fannie’s guidance letter, banks can offer unemployed borrowers up to six months of lowered or skipped payments without seeking prior approval and up to 12 months with a formal approval.
Fannie Mae will start its program extension on March, 1st. Freddie Mac will begin its offering of the extended forbearance period starting on February, 1st. To be eligible, the banks must determine if the “borrower” has less than 12 months worth of mortgage payments in savings and has monthly housing expenses above 31% of their incomes. After the extension period expires, if the borrower is still unemployed or unable to make payments, other options like a permanent loan modification or a short sale will have to be considered.
Continue Reading Fannie and Freddie Extend Unemployed Mortgage Relief Programs
Tags: mortgages
Fair Isaac Corporation and data provider CoreLogic announced last week they are collaborating on another new credit score that will focus on sharing more personal consumer information with mortgage lenders next year. FICO scores are the industry standard for determining credit risk on mortgages backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration and this move is intended to provide a separate score that will incorporate information from sources like payday loans, evictions and child support payments. Future additions will likely include information on things like the status of utility accounts, rental payment histories and even cell phone account payments.
According to a couple of articles I read in the Sunday papers this morning, the IRS has released additional guidance for homeowners that have negotiated a loan modification or short sale and need to understand how to deal with their canceled mortgage debt.
You had to know this was coming after 
