PORTLAND, Ore. — It’s been a wild two months for home lenders amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
I talked with Risse Davis, a mortgage advisor with Finance of America. She said they’re really busy keeping up with the onslaught of requests, while figuring out how to operate in the world of coronavirus.
“Interest rates are lower, so lenders are busier," she said. And then obviously lenders are having to learn to work remotely across the board.”
The face-to-face meetings, the paperwork changing hands, all of that needed to be streamlined or eliminated. Davis said she thinks they’ve got that mostly figured out now. Tight restrictions early on have begun to ease, and rates are not as volatile now as they were during the roller coaster ride of early March.
“It’s a little easier to say what the rate is right now, and that that’ll likely be the rate tomorrow versus a month ago," said Davis, referring to that period early in March where lending rates could change a full point in a day.
That kind of swing can make an enormous difference in the bottom line, but things have started to steady for now. Davis says the best advice right now, as always, is to check in with your lender. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.
That advice applies even if you think you’re in immediate danger of missing a payment. And there may be additional help out there for you: Try the consumer financial protection bureau website. There may be options to help you get through this pandemic, including loan modification and forbearance.
Also, on Monday The Federal Housing Finance Agency reiterated its modified rules for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae loan holders during the COVID-19 pandemic.