Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac announce foreclosure moratorium for Xmas

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government sponsored mortgage servicing giants, have both announced a nationwide suspension of eviction lockouts on foreclosed homes for the duration of the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The moratorium on foreclosures will run from December 17 to January 2, and will apply to any foreclosed occupied home that’s owned by Fannie or Freddie, they said.

“As we have done in past years, we are suspending evictions from Freddie Mac-owned homes to help provide families with a greater measure of certainty during the upcoming holiday season,” Yvette Gilmore, Freddie Mac’s vice president of single-family servicer performance management, said in the announcements.

However, the moratorium will not apply to other pre and post-foreclosure activities, the bodies said. As such, legal and administrative proceedings to facilitate evictions will be allowed to continue, though the affected families will at least be able to stay in their homes for the duration of the moratorium.

“We believe it is important to extend the timeline of help for struggling borrowers during the holidays,” Jacob Williamson, vice president of single-family real estate at Fannie Mae, said. “We encourage homeowners who may be struggling with their mortgage or facing possible foreclosure to reach out to Fannie Mae or your servicer to get help. We want to help pursue those options whenever possible.”