> listened to a podcast recently that some 'homeowners' have not made a mortgage payment in years, have no ability to pay,

How? Somebody is holding the bag here on the mortgage - a bank, probably. And they are fine with not receiving payments? Or is somebody else making payments on the homeowner's behalf?

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linuxftw 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

So, the basic process is 1) Borrow stops making payments. 2) Borrow goes into forbearance for 12 months just prior to foreclosure start. 3) Forbearance ends, borrower cannot make current. 4) FHA steps in to do loan modification. Essentially, they roll the forebeared balance into the loan, payoff the existing mortgage, and issue a new FHA-backed loan, without any income or payment ability qualifications. 5) Repeat the process again.

So, the government is making everyone whole.

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quietsegfault 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Mortgage foreclosure is a legal process that takes a very long time and is very expensive.

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mbrameld 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It doesn't take years, and it's less expensive than writing off the mortgage.

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groby_b 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Banks are perfectly well equipped to foreclose on you. Ask anybody who was around in 2008.

You don't usually skate by on years of non-payments, so I'd sticker the original claim with [citation needed]

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Amezarak 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Don't know if this is what the OP is referring to, but: https://archive.is/2EObp

sounds like a very similar thing.

Here's another one on perpetual forbearances: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/covid-housing-relief-forever-rec...

This would seem to indicate that Covid forbearances are extending into 2026: https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/SFH/documents/SFH_FHA_INFO_...

	▲	linuxftw 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah, those are some of the programs I was referring to. The 'loophole' aspect that was mentioned on the podcast is that when the FHA does the 'loss mitigation' (aka, refi's the loan), there is not any kind of qualification as to whether the buyer will ever be able to make a payment on the new loan. It's just approved anyway, and the cycle can happen unlimited times. I think they're looking at adding a means test, but I'm unsure.