If you or someone in your household has become unemployed due to COVID and your income has gone down about 30%, you may qualify for the Pandemic Mortgage Assistance Program (PMAP) through the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA).
To qualify, you must:
1) have an annual income below the limit set by HUD;
2) be a homeowner;
3) have mortgage payments that are at least 30 days late; and
4) need help with a first or second lien on your home.
PMAP may be able to cover up to $1000 a month of missed mortgage payments from March 2020 through December 2020. You can submit the application and the required documents until September 30, 2020 online at https://pmap.phfa.org/ or by mail to P.O. Box 15530, Harrisburg, PA 17105-5530.
PMAP and Mortgage Forbearance
If you are already in a forbearance plan, you may not also be eligible for PMAP. Here are your options:
1) Stay in your forbearance plan and not apply for PMAP and make up the missed mortgage payments after your forbearance period ends.
2) Stay in your forbearance plan and try to apply for PMAP anyway and risk PHFA denying your application. Advocate organizations are working with PHFA to change the rules. If you would like to try to apply anyway, use the paper application as it does not require you to indicate that you are not in a forbearance plan to proceed with the application.
3) Exit your forbearance plan and apply to PMAP. This option is risky because, if you cannot resume mortgage payments before October 30, 2020, you will have to re-apply for a forbearance plan with your mortgage company and there is no guarantee you will be approved. If you choose this option, you must contact your mortgage company, request an end to your forbearance plan, and wait 30 days after your next mortgage payment to apply for PMAP. Even if you get approved for PMAP, you will only receive assistance for the months that you were not in a forbearance plan until December 2020.
For more information about applying to PMAP, you can call PHFA’s call center at 1-855-827-3466 on weekdays between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and follow the prompts for CARES assistance for homeowners.
Philadelphia Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Court Update
All Mortgage Foreclosure lawsuits are currently on hold. If you have been sued and have been given a Mortgage Forbearance, a Trial Mortgage Modification or an “At-Risk” reverse mortgage deferral, your mortgage company must notify the court to stop your lawsuit from going forward when the court re-opens.
If you have one of these agreements or have received a notice of foreclosure, call the SeniorLAW Center HelpLine immediately at 215-988-1242.