Special Relief Provided After Hurricane Katrina
Extended to New Storm Victims
MCLEAN, Va., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Single family mortgage borrowers
whose lives were disrupted by Hurricane Rita may defer their October and
November payments if their mortgages are owned by Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), the
company announced today. In addition to suspending the next two months of
mortgage payments, Freddie Mac said it was extending to victims of Hurricane
Rita all of the special mortgage servicing relief policies it announced to
ease the financial pressures on borrowers with Freddie Mac-owned mortgages
after Hurricane Katrina.
The temporary suspension applies to Freddie Mac-owned single-family loans
in federally declared disaster areas where FEMA's Individual Assistance
programs are being made available. None of these temporary measures will
affect Freddie Mac's guarantee on its Mortgage Participation Certificates
(PCs).
"We are determined to go the extra mile to help Texas and Louisiana
borrowers cope with this year's unusually destructive storms in the Gulf of
Mexico," said Freddie Mac Chairman and CEO Richard F. Syron. "Protecting
investors while helping borrowers overcome unexpected shocks like Hurricanes
Rita and Katrina is part of Freddie Mac's mission to keep America's housing
finance system affordable, stable and liquid," Syron added.
After November servicers have the discretion to continue suspending or
reducing payments on Freddie Mac-owned mortgages for a total of 12 months on a
case-by-case basis, depending upon each borrower's specific circumstances.
Servicers must make their determinations before the mortgage's December
payment due date. A servicer is the company to which borrowers send their
monthly mortgage payments.
For those borrowers who may have already made their October mortgage
payments, Freddie Mac is giving its servicers the discretion to automatically
return payments withdrawn through an automated clearinghouse but not yet
reported to Freddie Mac. Borrowers who made their October payments through
other means have the option to contact their servicers to request their
payment's return. In either case, borrowers will still be required to work
with their servicer to reinstate their mortgage once the temporary suspension
period ends.
Freddie Mac today also instructed its servicers:
* Not to report to credit bureaus any reversed and suspended payments on
Freddie Mac-owned loans as a result of Hurricane Rita during the
suspension period;
* To suspend all late fees, collection and foreclosure activities in the
federally declared major disaster areas during the suspension period;
* To extend to all National Guard members on state duty involved in
Hurricane Rita recovery operations mortgage relief comparable to the
relief available under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned company established by Congress in 1970
to support homeownership and rental housing. Freddie Mac fulfills its mission
by purchasing residential mortgages and mortgage-related securities, which it
finances primarily by issuing mortgage-related securities and debt instruments
in the capital markets. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible
for one in six homebuyers and nearly four million renters in America.
http://www.FreddieMac.com
SOURCE Freddie Mac
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Related links:
http://www.freddiemac.com
CONTACT:
Brad German of Freddie Mac, +1-703-903-2437
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