Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced on Wednesday, 5/13/2020, that homeowners with mortgage loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can make up their missed forbearance payments when they sell their home, refinance, or when their loan term is over.

This means that you can breathe a little easier if you cannot make the missed mortgage payment within a year. It also means that you now will have lots of time, potentially until the end of your mortgage loan (30 Years), to make the missed payments.

Mortgage Servicers will begin offering the payment deferral repayment option starting July 1, 2020.

Payment deferral is one of the repayment options. Payment deferral takes the missed mortgage payments and puts them into a payment due at the sale, or refinancing of the home, or the end of the loan. The borrower’s monthly mortgage payment will not change. Mortgages that exercise the payment deferral option will remain in Enterprise Mortgage-Backed Securities, subject to the terms of the trust agreements.

FHFA continues to stress that borrowers who can make their mortgage payment should continue to do so; because the missed payments do remain an obligation that will ultimately have to be repaid.

In addition to the new payment deferral option, borrowers with COVID-19 related hardships can still utilize other options that include reinstatement, repayment plan, or loan modifications based on their individual situations.