Edmund Garcia, an Iraq war veteran, stands outside his home in Rosharon, Texas. Like many vets, he was told if he took a mortgage forbearance his monthly payments wouldn't go up afterwards.Edmund Garcia, an Iraq war veteran, stands outside his home in Rosharon, Texas. Like many vets, he was told if he took a mortgage forbearance his monthly payments wouldn't go up afterwards.
COVID mortgage forbearance programs were set up by Congress during the pandemic to help people with federally backed loans by giving them an affordable way to skip mortgage payments and then get current on their loans again.But in late 2022, the VA abruptly ended its Partial Claim Payment program which had allowed a homeowner at the end of a forbearance to move the missed payments to the back of the loan term and keep the interest rate on their original mortgage.
Edmund holds a photo of himself in 2000 as a specialist in charge of handling ammunition and supplies while he was in the Army.Edmund holds a photo of himself in 2000 as a specialist in charge of handling ammunition and supplies while he was in the Army.The VA had other loan modification options, but those essentially required a new mortgage with a new interest rate, and rates were rising sharply– from around 3 percent up to around 7 percent.
Now it appears that any veterans who succumbed to that pressure and accepted these higher-cost loan modifications will not be able to get help through the VA's new rescue plan."If you are not in default, this program is not for you," John Bell, the director of the VA home loan program, told NPR at a press call this week. "And you have to be in default a certain amount of time.
Also, the rules mean that if a veteran tried to pay a more costly loan modification for a few months, then defaulted and couldn't afford it, they wouldn't qualify.He thinks the VA should extend the foreclosure moratorium on VA loans, which is set to expire at the end of May, both to give the VA time to consider fixing such issues and to give mortgage companies time to gear up and reach out to homeowners.
Source: Loan Digest (loandigest.net)
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: AllSidesNow - 🏆 572. / 51 Read more »
Source: AllSidesNow - 🏆 572. / 51 Read more »
Source: AllSidesNow - 🏆 572. / 51 Read more »
Source: LAist - 🏆 606. / 51 Read more »
Source: LAist - 🏆 606. / 51 Read more »
Source: NPR - 🏆 96. / 63 Read more »