TAMPA, Fla. — Many families are hurting financially right now.  

• On March 18, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Finance Agency suspended all foreclosures and evictions for the next 60 days. This would extend to May 17, 2020, but we expect it to be extended
• Under the foreclosure moratorium, mortgage servicers are directed to immediately halt all new foreclosure actions, suspend all foreclosure actions currently in progress

Evictions and foreclosures are on hold but only temporarily.

So what should you do if you can't afford to make your mortgage or rent payment right now?

Currently, there’s a federal mortgage moratorium in place right now and a state executive order regarding the exact same thing. 

But according to attorney Charles Gallagher, the state order does not relieve people from their obligation to make mortgage payments or rent payments.

So if you can’t pay, and you contact your lender, they’ll likely have you sign a forbearance agreement. 

But some of those agreements are asking people to pay lump sum amounts at the end of the forbearence period, which can be financially difficult to do. 

So it’s just really important to know what it is exactly what you’re signing. 

“Don’t just go ahead and jump at the first thing," said Gallagher, with Gallagher  & Associates law firm. "Hopefully, you have more than one option. You don’t want to pick an option that has you paying a whole lot of payments at once, if you have option that give you flexibility, then those are better options.” 

Gallagher says you really should be proactive and open and honest with your lender. 

And they will ask for verification of hardship, but at that point, you should be able to get some options.