If you are experiencing a financial hardship that impacts your ability to make your mortgage payments on time, contact your mortgage servicer as soon as possible to discuss your options. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) provides mortgage servicers with options designed to help borrowers retain their homes when facing financial hardship that affects their ability to remain current on their mortgage payments.

FHA’s Home Retention Options

FHA’s home retention options provide you with ways to bring your mortgage current and may reduce your monthly mortgage payment to help you avoid foreclosure and retain your home.

• Repayment Plans: A structured plan that lets you gradually repay your past-due mortgage payments by adding a portion of the overdue amount to your regular monthly payments over a set period.
• Forbearances: Provides a temporary pause or reduction of your monthly mortgage payments to allow you time to overcome the financial hardship. Following a forbearance, your servicer will work with you to repay the missed or reduced payments.
• Standalone Partial Claim: Allows past due amounts on your mortgage to be placed in an interest free subordinate lien against your property. The Partial Claim amount does not require repayment until the last mortgage payment is made, the property is sold, the mortgage is assumed, the title to the property is transferred, or certain types of refinances, whichever occurs first.
• Standalone Loan Modification: A Loan Modification is a permanent change to one or more terms of your mortgage. The modification resolves the past due mortgage payments by adding that amount to the principal loan balance of the first mortgage and extending the term of the mortgage at a fixed interest rate.
• Combination Loan Modification and Partial Claim: This option combines a Loan Modification and a Partial Claim to resolve past due mortgage payments by utilizing the two options together and may also include a portion of the mortgage principal in the Partial Claim.
• Payment Supplement: A Payment Supplement utilizes a Partial Claim to resolve your delinquent mortgage payments and temporarily reduce your monthly mortgage payment for a period of three years.

Note: To qualify for any of the home retention options, you will need to provide your servicer with current information, and you may be required to agree to a trial payment plan (TPP) before you are approved for any loss mitigation home retention option.

You can only receive one permanent loss mitigation home retention option (Partial Claim, Loan Modification, Combination Loan Modification and Partial Claim, or Payment Supplement) within any 24-month period, unless you are impacted by a Presidentially Declared Major Disaster.

FHA’s Home Disposition Options

If your income or expenses have changed so much that you are not able to continue paying the mortgage even with the assistance of a loss mitigation home retention option offered by your servicer, you may be offered a home disposition option.

• Pre-Foreclosure Sale (PFS): If your current market value is not enough to pay the loan in full, your servicer may be able to accept less than the full amount owed by approving eligible borrowers for a Pre-Foreclosure Sale, also known as a short sale. You may be eligible to receive relocation expenses if you meet certain conditions.
• Deed-in-Lieu (DIL) of Foreclosure: If you are unable to complete a PFS transaction at the expiration of the PFS marketing period, you may be eligible to voluntarily offer to deed (“give back”) the property to HUD in exchange for a release from all obligations under the Mortgage. You may be eligible to receive relocation expenses if you meet certain conditions.

Contact a Housing Counselor

Contact a local HUD-approved Housing Counseling Agency for help with homebuying, renting, defaults, foreclosures, and credit issues. These agencies offer tools and guidance to support informed housing decisions and may charge reasonable fees for services like rental, pre-purchase, and reverse mortgage education. Foreclosure prevention counseling and homeless counseling services, however, are always available free of charge. Information on local HUD-approved Housing Counseling Agencies can be found at: https://answers.hud.gov/housingcounseling.

Contact FHA

The FHA Resource Center offers a variety of ways to get FHA information. To contact the FHA Resource Center, use one of the methods below. Emails and phone messages will be responded to during normal hours of operation, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday on all non-Federal holidays.

• Online FAQ Site: www.hud.gov/answers
  Our online knowledge base helps you find answers 24/7.
• Email: answers@hud.gov
  The FHA Resource Center can accept emails with attachments. To ensure proper attention to the attachment please reference it within the body of the email.
• Telephone: (800) CALL-FHA (1-800-225-5342)
  The FHA Resource Center is prepared to accept calls from persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as individuals with speech or communication disabilities. Information on how to make an accessible phone call is available at https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs.