Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Landlords' mil-protection notice

The Department of Justice and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sent a Dec. 20 warning to mortgage servicers/landlords to abide by rules that protect service members against foreclosure, eviction and housing-related financial hardships during the pandemic. The notice was a reminder of forbearance programs put in place last year to let homeowners hit pause on mortgage payments set to expire at the end of December. DoJ also noted it has received complaints from service members/veterans who ran into problems after entering a COVID-19 hardship mortgage forbearance program, including being reported as delinquent borrowers and being required to make lump sum payments to reinstate home loans. The complaints are being reviewed by the CFPB. About 7.6M homeowners entered forbearance during the pandemic, according to DOJ. A majority have resumed making payments, but roughly 1.25M, including military personnel/veterans, remain in forbearance programs about to expire. The military has legal protections established to allow service requirements, such as lengthy deployments. Mortgage servicers are not allowed to foreclose/evict certain service members/families without a court order. DOJ and CFPB’s letter to landlords focused on reminding them of those legal protections that apply to military tenants, including rules that make it possible for them to terminate their lease early. https://www.pilotonline.com/military/vp-nw-militaryfamilies-housing-20211221-cfuqquvh6rcutjrbltb4codno

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