Forbearance temporarily pauses or reduces your mortgage payments during a financial hardship — but it is not forgiveness. Here is what you need to know.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Mortgage Options Network is operated by Pipeline Harbor Digital LLC. We connect homeowners with experienced mortgage relief professionals who can help evaluate their options.
Mortgage forbearance is a temporary agreement between you and your mortgage servicer to pause or reduce your monthly mortgage payments for a defined period. It is important to understand from the outset: forbearance is not forgiveness. The payments you do not make during a forbearance period are still owed. They are simply paused, not eliminated.
Forbearance is designed as a short-term solution for homeowners facing a temporary financial hardship — a period of time when your income has dropped or you have experienced unexpected expenses that make your normal mortgage payment temporarily unaffordable. The expectation is that your financial situation will stabilize and you will be able to resume payments and address the missed amounts.
Forbearance is also one of several loss mitigation options that federal mortgage servicing rules require your servicer to evaluate when you submit a complete application. The same framework that governs modifications and repayment plans — the 30-day decision window, written denial reasons, the 14-day appeal right, and the pause on foreclosure during review — applies to forbearance requests as well. (Loss mitigation framework under 12 C.F.R. § 1024.41.)
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When you request forbearance and your servicer agrees, you enter into a forbearance plan that specifies the duration (typically 3 to 12 months, sometimes longer) and the terms — whether payments are fully paused or reduced to a lower amount. During the forbearance period, your servicer generally cannot initiate or continue foreclosure proceedings against you.
During forbearance, interest typically continues to accrue on your outstanding loan balance. Late fees are generally waived or suspended during an approved forbearance period, but this varies by servicer and loan type. Your servicer is required to report to credit bureaus that your account is in a forbearance plan, which may reduce the negative credit impact compared to simply missing payments.
The CARES Act, passed in March 2020, created significant forbearance protections for homeowners with federally backed mortgages (FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac loans). Eligible homeowners could request up to 18 months of forbearance simply by attesting to a COVID-related financial hardship. At its peak, over 4 million households were in forbearance simultaneously. These CARES Act provisions have since expired, but they established important precedents and many servicers maintain similar hardship forbearance programs.
This is the most important thing to understand about forbearance. Borrowers don't lose their homes from forbearance — they lose them from not having an exit plan. When the forbearance period ends, the paused payments become due. How they are handled depends on the repayment option you and your servicer agree to:
The same federal framework that governs your initial forbearance application also governs your exit. Once you submit a complete application for an exit option — a repayment plan, modification, or deferral — the servicer has 30 days to evaluate you for every option you may qualify for and respond in writing. A denial must include specific reasons, and you have 14 days to appeal. (Evaluation, denial, and appeal protections under 12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(c), (d), and (h).)
Contact your mortgage servicer as soon as you experience or anticipate a financial hardship. You do not need to wait until you miss a payment — proactive requests are accepted. Explain your hardship and ask specifically about forbearance options. Get any agreement in writing before you stop making payments. Ask specifically about the repayment options available when the forbearance period ends so you fully understand your obligations.
The forbearance options actually available depend on who owns or insures your loan. FHA borrowers have defined forbearance options under the loss mitigation waterfall in 24 C.F.R. § 203.605. VA-guaranteed loans follow the servicer obligations in 38 C.F.R. § 36.4350 et seq. Conventional loans owned by Fannie Mae are evaluated under Servicing Guide D2-3.2; Freddie Mac uses Servicing Guide Chapter 9203. Your servicer must tell you who owns your loan if you ask in writing — and federal early-intervention rules require live contact by day 36 of delinquency and a written description of loss mitigation options by day 45. (Right of investor identification under 12 C.F.R. § 1024.36; early intervention under 12 C.F.R. § 1024.39.)
VA borrowers should know that VASP (the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase program) was terminated May 1, 2025 by VA Circular 26-25-2. The VA Home Loan Program Reform Act (H.R. 1815) was signed July 30, 2025 and will eventually allow a 25% / 30% partial claim, but is not yet fully operational. In the meantime, veterans rely on the standard servicing framework under 38 C.F.R. § 36.4350 et seq.
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The protections below apply to most residential mortgages and frame both your entry into forbearance and your exit. They are not benefits a servicer chooses to offer. They are rules the servicer must follow once you trigger them in writing. For the broader menu of options, see our mortgage relief guide.
The investor — Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA, USDA, or a private trust — sets the forbearance rules your servicer must follow. A written request for investor information must be answered.
Once you are 36 days past due, the servicer must make good-faith live contact about your situation. By day 45, they must send a written notice describing the loss mitigation options available to you — forbearance included.
Once a facially complete application is on file, the servicer has 30 days to evaluate you for every option you may qualify for. While that complete application is under review, the servicer cannot proceed to a foreclosure sale.
If forbearance or your exit option is denied, the servicer must state the specific reasons in writing. From the date of the denial, you have 14 days to appeal or request a different option. Appeals are reviewed by different personnel.
Federal rules generally bar a servicer from making the first official foreclosure filing until you are more than 120 days delinquent — which is meant to give you time to apply for forbearance or other options before any public foreclosure action begins.
FHA borrowers have defined forbearance options under the loss mitigation waterfall, plus a partial claim option to bring the loan current at the end. VA-guaranteed loans follow a separate servicing framework. Conventional loans owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac may qualify for a payment deferral, which moves the missed payments to the end of the loan as a non-interest-bearing balloon.
These protections come from federal regulations including 12 C.F.R. § 1024.36, § 1024.39, § 1024.41 (subsections (b)(2)(i)(B), (c), (d), (f), (g), and (h)), 24 C.F.R. § 203.371, § 203.604, § 203.605, 38 C.F.R. § 36.4350 et seq., Fannie Mae Servicing Guide D2-3.2, and Freddie Mac Servicing Guide Chapter 9203.
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