Servicing: Disaster Relief Policies FAQ

To be eligible for disaster forbearance relief offered under Freddie Mac Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide (Guide) Chapter 8404 or Guide Bulletins offering additional relief, the borrower's hardship must have been caused by an eligible disaster.

The Servicer is authorized to apply a three-month disaster forbearance for a borrower who becomes 31 or more days delinquent after being impacted by an eligible disaster, even if the Servicer is unable to establish borrower contact. In these instances, the Servicer may apply forbearance for up to 90 days while they continue to attempt to contact the borrower to determine how best to manage the delinquency going forward.

If the Servicer can establish quality right party contact (QRPC), we provide the flexibility to allow individual forbearance plans of up to six months each, for up to a total of 12 months of disaster forbearance based on the assessment of the borrower’s needs. (NOTE: The forbearance plan must not extend the total delinquency beyond 12 months, so if the borrower is already delinquent, the maximum forbearance period may be shorter).

Servicers are required to establish QRPC to approve forbearance for a borrower who was 31 or more days delinquent at the time of impact due to an eligible disaster.

An eligible disaster is defined as:

A disaster, either man-made or natural which results in an area being designated as an Eligible Disaster Area and meets the following qualifications:

• A financial hardship (e.g., a loss/reduction of income or increase in expenses) that impacts the borrower's ability to pay his or her current contractual monthly payment, and
• Either:
  • The property securing the mortgage loan experienced an insured loss.
  • The property securing the mortgage loan is located in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-Declared Disaster Area eligible for individual assistance.
  • The borrower's place of employment is located in a FEMA-Declared Disaster Area eligible for individual assistance.

Yes. If a Servicer has established QRPC, disaster forbearance may be offered to an impacted borrower who is current. However, the forbearance plan does not begin until the borrower becomes more than 30 days delinquent and is reported by the Servicer to Freddie Mac via EDR.

In situations where the borrower is unable to receive documentation, the Servicer may waive the requirement that the forbearance plan be in writing. In these circumstances, the Servicer may enter the borrower into a forbearance plan through a verbal agreement.

If the borrower is not eligible for disaster forbearance based on Freddie Mac’s guidelines, the Servicer may submit an exception request for Freddie Mac’s review and approval.

The Servicer is delegated to approve a disaster forbearance for a borrower if they have a hardship caused by an eligible disaster and the cumulative length of all forbearance(s) does not cause the mortgage to exceed 12 months of total delinquency.

To submit a request for a forbearance extension, the Servicer should use the Extensions navigation option in the Resolve^® user interface (UI). After submission, forbearance extension requests will be available in the Resolve dashboard.

Servicers must report borrowers who are on a disaster-related forbearance plan, repayment plan or Trial Period Plan to the credit bureaus in accordance with applicable law, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

A property inspection is not required in all cases, but it is required when you are not able to determine the status of the property through borrower contact. You must determine the number of mortgages secured by properties that are impacted by the disaster and the extent of damages. Preferably this may be completed through discussions with the borrower, or by completing a property inspection of each mortgaged premises located in an eligible disaster area in accordance with the requirements in Guide Section 9202.12.

If the status of the property cannot be determined based on QRPC, we require, at minimum, an exterior property inspection to assess whether the property has been impacted by the disaster. You may only complete an interior property inspection if you have identified that the property is abandoned or if the interior inspection is required under our insurance loss settlement requirements. These requirements are for all Freddie Mac owned or guaranteed mortgages in eligible disaster areas, regardless of delinquency status.

All our disaster-related requirements, including those pertaining to property inspections, apply to impacted mortgages secured by properties in eligible disaster areas.

You must comply with applicable law and the Guide when you receive an incomplete or complete BRP. If it’s complete, then you must evaluate the borrower per our loss mitigation evaluation hierarchy. If you achieve QRPC and the borrower is eligible, then you may offer the borrower a disaster payment deferral. Learn more about payment deferral solutions on the webpage.

A borrower who experiences a hardship caused by an eligible disaster affecting a mortgage originated less than 12 months prior to the evaluation date for a disaster payment deferral (or any other loss mitigation option) may be eligible regardless of the mortgage origination date, provided the borrower meets all eligibility requirements for the option being considered.

We do not require you to obtain documentation from an impacted delinquent borrower to offer disaster forbearance. However, unless QRPC is established and alternative payment arrangements are made, or the borrower is performing under another foreclosure alternative at the time of the disaster, you are still required to send the Borrower Solicitation Package and otherwise comply with applicable law governing loss mitigation.

Yes, if the Servicer was unable to achieve QRPC prior to the end of the forbearance plan, the forbearance plan has ended, and the borrower is at least 90 days delinquent days at the time of evaluation and meets other program eligibility criteria, then the borrower is eligible for a streamlined offer for a Flex Modification.

The borrower may choose to continue performing on the Trial Period instead of disaster forbearance or they may accept forbearance and, if eligible, transition to a new Trial Period at the end of the forbearance period. However, if QRPC isn’t established, then you should assume that an impacted borrower who misses a Trial Period payment has elected to commence with the 90-day disaster forbearance plan.

Freddie Mac disaster policies apply to those borrowers whose mortgaged premises or place of employment is located within an area comprised of counties or municipalities that have been declared by the President of the United States to be a major disaster area, where FEMA has made federal aid available in the form of individual assistance.

However, for borrowers whose homes are in public assistance areas (as opposed to individual assistance areas), our standard suite of loss mitigation options is available. As with any borrower facing an eligible hardship, these borrowers may apply for mortgage assistance and, if eligible, obtain forbearance plans, repayment plans, and Flex Modifications in accordance with Freddie Mac’s non-disaster eligibility requirements and the Guide’s evaluation hierarchy.

A borrower whose place of employment, but not their mortgaged premises, is in an Eligible Disaster Area, is not required to provide documentation to prove their hardship to be eligible for 90-day disaster forbearance or our other disaster-related loss mitigation options. However, if you are going to offer more than 90 days forbearance, Freddie Mac does require you to establish QRPC with these borrowers and obtain verbal confirmation that the borrower’s place of employment is in an Eligible Disaster Area and was impacted by the disaster. You must document this verbal confirmation in the mortgage file. Verbal confirmation is not required when making a streamlined offer of a Flex Modification.

There is no additional mandated timeframe for making borrower contact outside of existing Guide requirements applicable for all Freddie Mac borrowers. However, if no QRPC is established, then Servicers may only offer delinquent impacted borrowers up to 90 days of disaster forbearance. Any additional assistance after 90 days requires QRPC.

The Servicer is prohibited from assessing late fees on impacted borrowers while they’re performing in accordance with a disaster forbearance plan or repayment plan. While the Servicer is permitted to assess late charges during a Trial Period, the Servicer must waive all late charges accrued upon the borrower’s conversion to a permanent loan modification.