What if I’m having trouble paying my VA direct or VA-backed home loan during the COVID pandemic?

Relief is on the way for Veterans with VA-backed home loans and who are experiencing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. VA announced that it would extend a postponement of evictions and foreclosures for VA borrowers:

VA will extend the existing moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, as well as extend VA loan forbearance requests, to June 30, because of COVID-19. The current moratorium extensions for evictions and foreclosures were set to end March 31.

“We will do everything in our power to help Veterans, their families, survivors and our caregivers get through this pandemic,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “The department’s moratorium and forbearance extensions support President Biden’s Jan. 22 Executive Order to deliver economic relief to Americans amid the COVID-19 crisis by addressing economic hardships the Veteran community faces, through no fault of its own, during the ongoing pandemic.”

A forbearance allows Veterans time to resolve the reason that they can’t pay the regular monthly installment and get back on a regular monthly repayment schedule again. The missed payments due at the end of a forbearance period do not have to be made up in a single payment. However, if Veterans can make up the all the payments in a lump sum and resume making regular monthly mortgage payments, then they may do so.

VA’s Borne the Battle podcast previously tackled questions that many borrowers are facing during the pandemic, providing answers to questions on homeownership, borrowing, forbearance, VA Loans, complaint filing, and tips on financial decision-making during the pandemic.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has a “Find a Counselor” tool to find counseling agencies approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Veterans can also call the HOPE Hotline open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at (888) 995-HOPE (4673) for personalized advice. Other mortgage and financial resources are available at: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/coronavirus/.