Homeowners who have received mortgage forbearance need to weigh options carefully to ensure that they’re not just kicking the can down the road

How will I pay my mortgage?

That’s the question facing millions of Americans as stay-at-home orders have caused many people to lose their jobs or income. Lawmakers have stepped in to provide homeowners with a lifeline by requiring lenders to provide forbearance — a way to defer mortgage payments — to any mortgage borrower with a federally-backed home loan.

So far, 3.5 million mortgage borrowers have requested forbearance, representing nearly 7% of all mortgages nationwide, according to the latest data released Monday by the Mortgage Bankers Association, an industry trade group. That means millions of homeowners can now skip or make reduced monthly payments on the home loan for up to one year.

“While the pace of job losses have slowed from the astronomical heights of just a few weeks ago, millions of people continue to file for unemployment,” said Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. “We expect forbearance requests will pick up again as we approach May payment due dates.”

Calling your lender and requesting forbearance is just the first step in the process. “Forbearance is not forgiveness,” said Karan Kaul, a research associate at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit policy group, told MarketWatch earlier this month. “You still owe the money that you were paying, it’s just that there’s a temporary pause on making your monthly payments.”