Disaster Mortgage Relief Mandate: Homeowners Get 6-Month Payment Pause After Federal Disaster Declaration

When a major disaster hits, the last thing anyone needs is a call from their mortgage company. The Mortgage Relief for Disaster Survivors Act is designed to take that immediate financial pressure off the table for people dealing with property damage.

The Immediate Payment Pause

This bill sets up a mandatory mortgage forbearance program for homeowners whose properties are damaged in a federally declared disaster area. If you hold a Federally backed mortgage—meaning it’s been bought or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (SEC. 3)—and your property suffers verifiable damage, your loan servicer must pause your payments for an initial period of 180 days (SEC. 2). This is a big deal because the servicer has to grant this relief even if you were already behind on your payments before the disaster hit. All you have to do is send a written request and provide documentation of the damage.

No Extra Costs, But Not Forgiveness

One of the most important protections here is that during this official forbearance period, your loan servicer cannot charge you any extra fees, penalties, or interest (SEC. 2). For example, if you’re a contractor whose home was damaged in a hurricane and you need six months to repair your roof and get back to work, you won't come out of forbearance with a massive, unexpected fee tacked onto your principal. That said, it’s crucial to understand that this is a pause, not a waiver. The interest and principal payments you skip are still owed; they are just deferred until the forbearance period ends. While this offers immediate breathing room, survivors need to plan for how they will handle that accumulated debt when payments resume.

Extending the Lifeline

If 180 days isn't enough time to stabilize your situation—and let’s be honest, disaster recovery often takes longer—the bill allows you to request an extension for another 180 days, bringing the total potential relief period to a full year (SEC. 2). This flexibility acknowledges the slow pace of insurance claims and rebuilding. If you recover faster, you can also opt out of the forbearance at any time and restart payments.

Who Gets the Relief and Who Doesn’t

This bill is highly specific about who qualifies, and that’s where the fine print matters. The relief is strictly limited to "Federally backed mortgage loans" and "Federally backed multifamily mortgage loans" (SEC. 3). If your mortgage is held by a private bank or a local credit union and hasn't been sold to Fannie or Freddie, you won't be covered by this mandatory relief. This is a common limitation in federal housing legislation, meaning many homeowners will still have to rely on the goodwill or existing policies of their private lenders. For those who are covered, the mandatory nature of this bill is a huge win, standardizing the relief process across all servicers handling these specific federal loans.