Tens of thousands of Harvey-area homeowners may become delinquent on their mortgages
Tens of thousands of Harvey-area homeowners may become delinquent on their mortgages
Of the approximately 1 million mortgaged homes in the Texas disaster area, about 56% have mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the giant mortgage financiers, according to Black Knight. If Harvey has an impact on the Texas market similar to Katrina’s, it will mean over 75,000 borrowers will be unable to make a mortgage payment in the next two months, and 45,000 will become seriously delinquent or even face foreclosure in the next four months.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Tuesday announced they would suspend evictions and foreclosures on homes whose mortgages they own, and work with servicers to ensure no property-inspection costs resulting from the hurricane are passed on to borrowers. The two enterprises also waived penalties and late fees against borrowers whose homes have been damaged by Harvey.
But both Fannie and Freddie noted that the situation in Texas and the Gulf Coast is still evolving, and much remains uncertain. And as Black Knight wrote in a release, “the human cost of this storm is obviously immense, with millions of American lives being impacted.”
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