When do I need to contact the borrower when he or she is on a forbearance plan?

The servicer must begin attempts to contact the borrower no later than 30 days prior to the expiration of any forbearance plan term and must continue outreach attempts until either QRPC is achieved or the forbearance plan term has expired. When evaluating the borrower for another workout option prior to expiration of the forbearance plan, we are providing flexibility with regard to achieving QRPC. As noted in Lender Letter 2020-02, Impact of COVID-19 on Servicing, we are eliminating the requirement that the servicer determine the occupancy status of the property and will consider the servicer obtaining the following as achieving QRPC for purposes of evaluating a borrower who has experienced a hardship resulting from COVID-19:   

• determining the reason for the delinquency and whether it is temporary or permanent in nature,
• determining whether or not the borrower has the ability to repay the mortgage loan debt,
• educating the borrower on the availability of workout options, as appropriate, and
• obtaining a commitment from the borrower to resolve the delinquency.

See below for more information on COVID-19:

• Fannie Mae’s COVID-19 page
• The Impact of COVID-19 on Servicing
• Fannie Mae Servicing Lender Letter LL 2020 02