Have You Skipped Rent Or Mortgage Payments During the Pandemic?

Congress has ordered banks to allow most homeowners hurt financially in the pandemic to skip mortgage payments. Some renters are covered by eviction protections.

If you're asking for this kind of help, NPR wants to hear from you.

We want to know how all of this is playing out. Are banks and other lenders following the rules and working to help you? If you're a renter, is your landlord being flexible whether that's required under the law or not? We want to hear your experiences.

In March, we heard from hundreds of you about problems with mortgage forbearances. Lenders were telling homeowners things that were not true — for example, that if a homeowner skipped payments, they'd need to make those up all at once with a big balloon or lump-sum payment that they couldn't afford. The rules don't allow that. The stories we did in response helped push federal regulators to crack down on companies to get them to follow the rules. Now we're reaching out to you again to find out how things are working many months later.

Sharing your experience will help reporters understand what's happening in the middle of this crisis. For example, are lenders allowing you to put your missed mortgage payments on the back of the loan term as they should be so your monthly payment doesn't go up when you find work and can start paying again? If you rent, how are you being treated by your landlord? We may contact you to see if you'd like to do an interview for a story.

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