A temporary pause or reduction in your mortgage payments granted by the lender, usually due to hardship. Payments aren't forgiven — you'll have to make them up later.
Forbearance is an agreement with your mortgage servicer to temporarily pause or reduce your monthly payments because of a financial hardship. It's a tool to get through a rough patch — job loss, medical emergency, natural disaster — without going into foreclosure.
The key thing to understand: forbearance is not forgiveness. Whatever payments you don't make during forbearance still have to be repaid eventually. The repayment options vary:
Lump sum: pay everything back when forbearance ends. Repayment plan: add a portion of missed payments to your regular monthly bill over 12–24 months. Loan modification: the missed payments are added to the loan balance and the loan is re-amortized. Deferral: the missed payments are tacked onto the end of the loan, due when you sell or refinance.
Contact your servicer at the first sign of trouble — don't wait until you've missed payments.
Example
You lose your job and ask for forbearance. The servicer pauses your $2,400 payment for 6 months. When forbearance ends, you owe $14,400 in missed payments. You opt for a repayment plan: $800 extra added to your regular payment for 18 months until you catch up.
Also known as
mortgage forbearance, payment forbearance, hardship forbearance
Source:
CFPB