Many of these consumers are facing financial hardship and may have options available to help them alleviate financial stress during these uncertain times. Creditors may offer debtors who are facing a financial hardship a forbearance option to help out. It is important for those with debts to understand what a forbearance is, how can it help them, and how it will it impact their credit.
A forbearance is when your lender approves to temporarily postpone, suspend or pause all or part your payment obligation(s). Keep in mind that it is common for your interest to continue to accrue during any forbearance period and your loan balance may increase. Due to the current heath pandemic we are facing, some lenders are offering exceptions and are eliminating interest charges during any forbearance periods. It is vital to call your lenders to see what help is available. It would be wise to document, in writing, any forbearance and/or interest exceptions you get. Keep all correspondence, including emails and texts, and written notes in a safe place in case you need them at a later date.
In times of a financial hardship, the ability to forbear an obligation may help you maintain other vital living expenses. As an example, by forbearing a mortgage, automobile or student loan payment during a financial hardship, you can use those funds for basic necessities like rent, groceries or utilities.
If you are required to make reduced payments during any forbearance period, you must make these payments timely or you should expect your credit score to suffer. The credit reporting system has special coding for lenders to identify an account that is in forbearance. The presence of such coding is not derogatory to your credit score.
If you are facing a financial hardship, speak to your lenders and ask them what options they have available to help you. If you qualify for forbearance, you should be able to avoid any credit damage. It is very important to get any forbearance agreements in writing, and keep them, in case your lender does not report your account accurately to the credit reporting agencies. Should errors occur, any written correspondence will help with repairing your credit.
Cure My Score is a full service credit restoration company that has been helping consumers with successful and affordable credit repair since 2008. If your credit needs some help, take action. There are a lot of resources available on steps to improve your credit. You can get free information from the FTC or contact a professional credit repair company like CureMyScore.com for help. By taking action to improve your credit, you may qualify for the home of your dreams or a new automobile while paying less in interest charges.
Call us at 412-564-5370 with any questions / comments or schedule a free program review. Like us on Facebook to receive future consumer credit tips.
Credit Reporting / Scoring Expert, Chris McConville is the President of Credit Education at CureMyScore.com and founder of myexpertcreditwitness.com where he works as an Expert Credit Witness in both Federal and State Court. With working in the credit and mortgage fields since 1991, he’s dedicated to sharing his knowledge to educate consumers.
