How to find out
Ask your servicer who owns or insures your loan. You can also check Fannie Mae's loan lookup and Freddie Mac's loan look-up. Both say results may not be complete, so confirm with your servicer.
FHA loans
HUD sets a required order of options: repayment plan, forbearance, a standalone partial claim, a loan modification, a modification combined with a partial claim, a payment supplement, then a short sale or deed in lieu.
- A partial claim is a zero-interest second loan to HUD that brings you current, repaid when you sell, refinance or pay off. All partial claims together cannot exceed 30 percent of the principal balance at your first default.
- You need to complete a trial payment plan (usually 3 months) before a permanent option.
- Only one permanent home retention option in any 24 months, except after a disaster.
- FHA Resource Center: 800-CALL-FHA (800-225-5342).
VA loans
VA lists special forbearance, repayment plans, modifications (including 30 and 40 year terms) and a new VA partial claim, plus extra time for a private sale, a short sale or a deed in lieu. VA assigns a loan technician once a VA loan is 61 days past due. Call 877-827-3702 (TTY 711), option 6.
- The VA partial claim launched on June 15, 2026. Servicers have until November 28, 2026 to put it in place, so yours may not offer it yet. You cannot apply to VA directly; it comes through your servicer.
- The older VASP program is closed.
- If the loan ends in foreclosure, short sale or deed in lieu, you have to repay VA's loss to use your full VA loan benefit again.
USDA loans
- Guaranteed loans (paid to a private servicer): a short repayment agreement, a special forbearance that can cover up to 12 months of payments, a loan modification of up to 40 years, a mortgage recovery advance, and a streamline modification for loans 90 or more days behind.
- Direct loans (paid to USDA): a payment moratorium of up to 2 years if your income dropped at least 20 percent or you had unreimbursed costs from illness, injury, death or uninsured damage, plus workout agreements and payment assistance. Call the USDA Servicing Center at 1-800-414-1226.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans
- Fannie Mae forbearance comes in steps of up to 3 months, generally up to 12 months in total.
- Repayment plans: Fannie Mae caps the plan payment at 150 percent of your normal payment; Freddie Mac plans run up to 12 months.
- Payment deferral, which moves missed payments to the end of the loan with no interest, for a hardship that is over.
- Fannie Mae's Flex Modification for loans 60 or more days behind, which aims to cut principal and interest by about 20 percent after a trial plan.
- Short sale and deed in lieu, often with relocation help. For a Fannie Mae loan on a main home, the relocation incentive is $7,500 when you are not asked to contribute cash.
Reverse mortgages (HECM)
The federal loss mitigation rules do not apply to reverse mortgages. A HECM can be called due when the last borrower dies or moves out, is out of the home for more than 12 months for health reasons, or does not pay property taxes or insurance. Once it is due, you, a surviving eligible spouse or the heirs get 30 days to pay it off, sell for at least the amount HUD sets (no more than 95 percent of appraised value), give a deed in lieu, or fix the problem.
For missed taxes or insurance, the servicer can offer a repayment plan of up to 5 years. Borrowers 80 or older with serious illness or disability may qualify for an extension. Call a HUD-approved counselor at (800) 569-4287.
Bank-held and other loans
Loans a bank or investor keeps have no single program. The federal servicing rules still apply in most cases, so ask for a full loss mitigation review and use your federal rights.
How much time do you have? It depends on your state.
See the foreclosure timeline, deadlines and free local help for the state where the home is.
Common questions
My servicer says there is nothing it can offer. Is that true?
It depends on who backs the loan. FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac all require servicers to review borrowers for specific options. Ask which investor guidelines the servicer used and what it reviewed you for, and ask a HUD-approved counselor to check.
I inherited a home with a mortgage. Can I get these options?
Often yes. A confirmed successor in interest is treated as a borrower under the federal servicing rules, and FHA lets someone who acquired the home through certain family transfers be reviewed for its options. See your federal rights.
Keep reading
- What to do firstThe earlier you act, the more options you have. These are the first six things to do, in order, whether you are about to miss a payment or are already a few months behind.
- A sale date is setA sale date means time is short, not that it has run out. Each option below has its own cutoff, so the order you act in matters. Start today.
- Avoid foreclosure rescue scamsPeople facing foreclosure are a target. Federal law bans most upfront fees for mortgage relief, so any company that asks to be paid before you have an offer from your servicer is breaking the rules.
- Your federal rightsFederal rules (Regulation X) set the floor in every state. They do not force your servicer to approve any option, but they control when it can start a foreclosure and how it must handle your application.
- Taxes after foreclosureThe IRS treats a foreclosure as a sale, and forgiven debt is usually income. The main home exclusion many people relied on has expired for most 2026 cases, but insolvency and bankruptcy exclusions still apply.
Sources
- HUD Handbook 4000.1, Update 18 (August 2026), FHA loss mitigation
- HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-12, permanent loss mitigation options
- HUD: Avoiding foreclosure
- VA: Help to avoid foreclosure
- VA: Partial Claim Program launch (June 15, 2026)
- VA: Servicer news, partial claim implementation deadline
- VA Circular 26-25-2, end of VASP
- 7 C.F.R. § 3555.303, USDA guaranteed loan servicing options (eCFR)
- 7 C.F.R. § 3555.304, USDA streamline modification (eCFR)
- 7 C.F.R. § 3550.207, USDA direct loan payment moratorium (eCFR)
- USDA Rural Development: Single Family Housing Direct Home Loans
- Fannie Mae Loan Lookup Tool
- Freddie Mac Loan Look-Up Tool
- Fannie Mae Servicing Guide D2-3.2-01, forbearance plan
- Fannie Mae Servicing Guide D2-3.2-02, repayment plan
- Fannie Mae Servicing Guide D2-3.2-04, payment deferral
- Fannie Mae Servicing Guide D2-3.2-06, Flex Modification
- Fannie Mae Servicing Guide D2-3.3-01, short sale
- Freddie Mac: Options to stay in your home
- Freddie Mac: Payment deferral
- 24 C.F.R. § 206.27, HECM mortgage provisions (eCFR)
- 24 C.F.R. § 206.125, HECM due and payable procedures (eCFR)
- 12 C.F.R. § 1024.30, scope and successors in interest (eCFR)