‘We want people to stay in their homes’: Mortgage lenders don’t expect a flood of foreclosures when moratorium ends
At Greenfield Savings Bank, about 20% of mortgage customers are in deferral, said President John H. Howland.
These are people who have told the bank they’ve suffered an economic loss from the coronavirus pandemic.
“It allows people to not make payments,” he said. “It basically goes on the back end of the mortgage.”
But now those deferrals of 30, 60 or 90 days are ending just as the statewide moratorium on mortgage foreclosures is set to end Saturday. A moratorium on residential evictions is also expected to sunset.
All are measures meant to soften the blow and guide households through COVID-19. But even with the moratoriums ending, local mortgage lenders don’t expect a rush of foreclosures to come sweeping through the system, as they did in the 2008-09 recession.
“We don’t know what is going to happen when the deferral period ends and people start payments,” Howland said. “We want