Two Ways of Protecting Your Credit During Coronavirus

August 25, 2020

Homeowners who have government backed mortgages such as VA and FHA home loans have built-in protection during COVID-19 in the form of federally-directed loan forbearance and mortgage relief options.

Saving your home by acting quickly and contacting your lender is only one motivation to get involved in a mortgage relief program; doing so may protect your future credit scores by avoiding the damage that a mortgage loan default or foreclosure can bring.

If you have an FHA mortgage or refinance loan, August 2020 is, at the time of this writing, the final month for coronavirus-related loan forbearance relief unless the federal government extends that deadline.
 
It has in the past and there is no way to tell whether conditions will warrant doing so in this particular case. That means it’s more crucial than ever to contact your lender and make arrangements under the current mortgage relief period.

Protecting your credit during the coronavirus pandemic means making all payments on time, every time. This isn’t possible for all borrowers, but if you are able, this is one of the best ways to protect your credit.
 
Seeking mortgage relief is an important part of that--if you feel you cannot make your mortgage payments on time because of pandemic-related issues, you need to make arrangements with the lender BEFORE you miss payments if at all possible.

Take whatever mortgage relief options are currently open to you and make a plan to continue your on-time payments as much as possible.

Getting a future home loan or auto loan can depend on your future creditor being able to determine that any late or missed payments were due to circumstances beyond your control and that such problems were situational (as in not likely to happen again).

That’s one thing some forget when trying to protect their credit--try to think like your creditors and a future lender reviewing your credit report ahead of a major loan. What will the lender find in your credit report?

You can subscribe to credit monitoring, you can review your credit reports, and pay close attention to the ups and downs of your credit score, but in concert with this you will need to maintain the most consistent record of on-time payments you can for best results at loan application time.

Don’t hesitate to start monitoring your credit and payment habits--the sooner you do, the sooner you get on the road to protecting or repairing your credit.

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