When the COVID-19 homeowner mortgage forbearance program was first announced last year, I insisted we enroll.

As a food and travel writer, I knew Id lose income.

The mortgage forbearance program would slash our biggest bill ASAP.

photo illustration of man crossing cliff to get to house

In our case, it was six months and a global pandemic.

The monthly payments arent forgiven, just delayed.

We actually saved money due to lower spending and CARES Act benefits.

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By the time the six-month forbearance period was up for renewal, we knew we didnt need the protection.

Meanwhile, we were interested in refinancing our mortgage to take advantage ofinterest rates that hit record lows.

In fact, forbearance and refinancing are both complex processes.

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Doing one on the heels of the other: even more complicated.

But it can be done.

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Heres what to expect when refinancing mortgages in forbearance.

Ending a Mortgage in Forbearance

To end the mortgage forbearance, our lender gave us two choices.

We could pay the missed payments in full or defer them until the end of the mortgage.

Our mortgage lender didnt process our deferral program for two months.

Meanwhile, wed resumed making monthly mortgage payments on their instruction.

Our monthly statements indicated that our payments were both late and unapplied.

We called the mortgage lender weekly, spending hours on hold or being transferred to different departments.

This wasnt the first time our lender misapplied payments.

At the end of our ropes, we filed a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

That got their attention.

Top brass resolved the issue, but we planned our escape.

Want to Refinance After Forbearance?

Three lenders had online home loan applications for mortgage loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Within the hour, we were getting calls from these lenders.

Some required us to pay for a credit report or an appraisal.

But lower monthly payments were no longer our primaryreason to refinance our mortgage.

We were tired of poor service from our current lender.

We locked in our new rate at the end of January.

On March 23, we received a message: Our loan was moving to underwriting for initial approval.

Due to high volume, they expected the closing to take place 120-150 days from our initial system.

April turned into May.

Meanwhile, my wife got a new job offer.

Getting away from a terrible lender I didnt trust to do anything right?

Her work has appeared in Business Insider, NextAdvisor, Greatist, and more.

Probably not as good as youd like.

It always seems like an uphill battle to build (and keep) a decent amount in savings.

But what if your car breaks down, or you have a sudden medical bill?

Ask one of these companies to help…