If you have a VA loan, the U.S. government has options in place to assist you in case of financial hardship. There are multiple programs available to help you avoid late payments and foreclosure if your mortgage meets eligibility. Here are the major veteran mortgage relief options to know:
Refund Modification
A refund modification affects the principal and interest on your existing VA loan. This option allows the Department of Veteran Affairs to purchase any past-due payment and principal loan balance, given the amount falls within certain limits. Refund modification can result in an overall reduction of both principal and interest by up to 20%.
Partial Claim Option
A partial claim program helps cover you in a scenario where you can make current payments, but have accrued a past-due balance. With a partial claim option, you can resume your regular monthly payments again as soon as you're financially able, while any unpaid late payments are taken over by the VA. You'll owe the amount at the end of the mortgage, but it will not accrue interest while the VA holds it.
Loan Deferment
Loan deferment is one of the simplest mortgage relief options available to veterans. A loan deferment creates an agreed-upon period when you don't have to make regular payments on either principal or interest. It's essentially a "pause" on your mortgage until the end of the deferment period, without any interest accruing during the deferment time.
Forbearance
Loan forbearance is very similar to deferment with one crucial difference. If you receive loan forbearance, you can pause making your mortgage payments for an agreed-upon time period, but interest will continue to build. While forbearance can be an excellent way to mitigate financial hardship in the short term, it can sometimes result in paying higher than the original required amount due to the continuing interest.
All of these options are great ways to avoid foreclosure and late mortgage payments. Remember these programs if you need mortgage relief.
About the Author
Sandy Malbrue
Hi, I'm Sandy Malbrue and I'd love to assist you. Whether you're in the research phase at the beginning of your real estate search for representation or you know exactly what you're looking for, you'll benefit from having a real estate professional by your side. I'd be honored to put my 14 years real estate experience to work for you. Be it to gain wide exposure for your home with my marketing plan, negotiate offers or manage the transaction once you've accepted an offer, in a way that will get you the best price and cause the least amount of disruption to you life as possible.
If you are a buyer, allow me put those skills to work for you to help with the pre-approval process, work with you to locate and arrange for you to view homes of interest to you , and negotiate your offer. Once you have an accepted offer, I will help you arrange inspections, I will manage the transaction for you, from helping to arrange for inspections to keeping you up to date on contingency removals and walking you through the process to a new set of keys.
Let's do this!