Published by USA Today on February 16, 2021
The foreclosure moratorium was set to expire March 31 and is now in place through June 30.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday extended a ban on home foreclosures for federally backed mortgages by three months and expanded a mortgage relief program in a push to stabilize the nation’s housing affordability crisis amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The foreclosure moratorium was set to expire March 31 and is now in place through June 30. It’s the second time Biden has extended the ban after he used one of his record number of Day One executive actions to push back a previous Jan. 31 end date.
The Biden administration Tuesday also extended the enrollment window to request a mortgage payment forbearance – which allows borrowers to pause or reduce mortgage payments – until June 30. That program also was scheduled to end in March.
As a result of a third action, the federal government will allow borrowers to defer mortgage payments for an additional six months. Eligible homeowners must have enrolled in a forbearance plan by the end of last June.
There are 11 million federal government-backed mortgages nationwide. Around 2.7 million homeowners are enrolled in COVID-19 forbearance plans.
