Loan Moratoriums: Can I freeze my payments?

Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well out there wherever you are.🙂
I'm currently paying off a mortgage—which, honestly, is a win in itself—and I've been staying on top of my payments for nearly two years now, but I unfortunately found myself on a credit blacklist just a few months back.
I heard through the grapevine that since my loan is through the Federal Reserve, they might offer some kind of option to freeze payments or start a moratorium for a set period of time.
So, I decided to head down to my local branch to sit down with my loan officer
and try to get some clarity, though it ended up being this exhausting game of cat and mouse where we were both just trying to outmaneuver one another.
Eventually, after a bit of back and forth, he finally admitted that the option does exist, but told me I’d need to submit a formal written request to actually get the ball rolling.
Anyway, I wanted to share this little bit of my own experience, but I'm curious if anyone else here has actually gone through this process, and if so, what did it involve and what steps should I be taking? THANKS IN ADVANCE AND BEST REGARDS TO ALL!🙏🙏😉

Come on, everyone, isn't anyone going to weigh in with an A or a B?

Look, from what I gather, you can only set up a moratorium if a woman is going on maternity leave. That’s the only condition Chase Bank requires for freezing payments. If anyone else actually knows anything about this, maybe let me know!

Heh, I’m actually curious about the moratorium too...
I'm currently on maternity leave, and my husband has a mortgage through JPMorgan Chase. I know we're entitled to a payment moratorium,
but I'm wondering what the actual cost of all that "fun" is. Between notary fees and paperwork, they say it won't be more than $167 now, but what happens later? Are there extra interest charges or something?
Apparently, there are two ways to go: you can either extend the loan term or just increase the monthly payments to keep the end date the same. They mentioned the second option involves less paperwork.
We aren't exactly in a financial crisis right now, so I'm trying to figure out if it's even worth doing, or if we'll just be making life harder for ourselves down the road.
..and yeah.. I totally agree that you really have to squeeze every bit of information out of the bank staff to get the real story.

🙂 Aloha, I’ve got some fresh news for you all regarding the moratorium process, so I put together a quick
note to explain my situation at the office while my wife is out on sick leave.
I took everything down to the local branch, and the loan officer there made sure to grab my cell number and promised he’d be in touch.
And wouldn't you know it, he actually called me back within two hours, saying, "_pa" sir, you really ought to clear up that overdraft and those little late fees from the credit line—it’s about three hundred dollars just to get the paperwork moving for the moratorium. It’s such a shame they won't let me extend the repayment period by another couple of years, isn't it?
I don't want to get ahead of myself, but it feels like this could actually work if we just
pushed a little harder, though maybe it's better to keep our ace up our sleeve for now... 👍

driftingtiger21 said:Heh, I’m actually curious about the moratorium too...
I'm currently on maternity leave, and my husband has a mortgage through JPMorgan Chase. I know we're entitled to a payment moratorium,
but I'm wondering what the actual cost of all that "fun" is. Between notary fees and paperwork, they say it won't be more than $167 now, but what happens later? Are there extra interest charges or something?
Apparently, there are two ways to go: you can either extend the loan term or just increase the monthly payments to keep the end date the same. They mentioned the second option involves less paperwork.
We aren't exactly in a financial crisis right now, so I'm trying to figure out if it's even worth doing, or if we'll just be making life harder for ourselves down the road.
..and yeah.. I totally agree that you really have to squeeze every bit of information out of the bank staff to get the real story.

Ugh... it’s enough to give you a nervous breakdown.

Regarding mortgage payment moratoriums at Bank of America, you can actually negotiate one if you’re heading out on maternity leave, facing a layoff, or seeing a drop in your income...

Now, look—to even get a moratorium approved, you have to be in perfect standing with all your accounts at the bank. That means zero overdrafts and no delinquent loan payments; you have to clean up your entire financial slate before they’ll even consider it... As I understand it, these deferment periods are capped at 12 months. Just keep in mind that the interest you skipped during those months doesn't just vanish; it gets tacked onto your principal, effectively hiking up your total balance by the amount of interest accrued over that year...

Guys, I need some advice here.
I had a housing savings account over at JPMorgan Chase. About two years ago, they offered me a $3,000 loan—7-year term, monthly payments were around $50.
Back then, I was still a student, so I figured it was a safe bet since I had steady money coming in from a stipend my mom’s company provided. Used that to cover the loan.
Well, that company just pulled the plug on the stipend. I haven't seen a dime since July, and I'm not seeing anything else until this academic year wraps up.
I'm already heading into my second month of missed payments, and I'm wondering—can I actually get a grace period for maybe 3 or 6 months? Or what are my actual options right now?
Once my benefits run out, I'll be hitting up the unemployment office, hoping my undergrad degree actually lands me something decent. We'll see.

Thanks in advance! 😁

My answer remains the same as it is for a billion other identical posts: YOUR BANK KNOWS BETTER THAN WE DO!

So, grab your phone and call your private banker. Or, if they happen to be nearby, walk over there in person to explain your situation and ask for their advice.

Good luck!

Look, you absolutely need to get down to the bank in person. Don't just call them—walk in and tell them exactly what's going on. There might be a way to cover the loan using your savings, or maybe you can negotiate a moratorium to give yourself some breathing room...

Here’s the situation: about forty days ago, my wife submitted an application for a loan restructuring or a moratorium. Our household income has taken a hit recently, making it impossible for us to keep up with the four different loans we currently have open with Bank of America.
The representative told us that some specialized department would be reaching out via phone to discuss our options, but we haven't heard a single word from them.
We followed up again today, only to be met with the usual excuses about being backed up and overwhelmed...

Has anyone else dealt with this kind of runaround? I’d appreciate any insight, similar experiences, or advice you might have.

Hello, everyone? I find it hard to believe that absolutely nobody here has any insight on this?

I appreciate the 133 views.

bluecyclist64 said:I appreciate the 133 views.

I put my application in on November 1st, 2009, and didn't even get a call saying it was approved until February 1st, 2010.

They’re swamped with requests so it takes forever. Plus, they don't have a phone line you can actually reach, so there's zero way to contact them—it's honestly infuriating. 🤷

Just hang in there... I don't know what else to tell you. Hopefully, you get the green light. Just a heads up though, they mostly approve partial moratoriums now—meaning you still pay interest while the principal gets pushed back for a year—rather than the full ones where you pay nothing for six months.

I was wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to negotiate a moratorium on loan repayments with Chase. Right now, I've got three different loans with them that I’m paying off like clockwork, but it's getting tight. Between those three, I'm looking at about $3,800 a month, and my take-home pay is around $5,000. I’m curious if there's any room to talk to them about putting some of these payments on hold for a bit to give myself some breathing room.

wiredwolf212 said:I was wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to negotiate a moratorium on loan repayments with Chase. Right now, I've got three different loans with them that I’m paying off like clockwork, but it's getting tight. Between those three, I'm looking at about $3,800 a month, and my take-home pay is around $5,000. I’m curious if there's any room to talk to them about putting some of these payments on hold for a bit to give myself some breathing room.

How did you even manage to qualify for three separate loans on a salary of $1667??? I can't speak for JPMorgan Chase specifically, but usually, they only grant a moratorium if you've lost your job or have zero steady income—basically if your bills are so high you literally can't cover the loan payments anymore. They might even deny you if they see you still have savings you're dipping into or if you're carrying a balance on a credit card.

Linda Johnson15 said:How did you even manage to qualify for three separate loans on a salary of $1667??? I can't speak for JPMorgan Chase specifically, but usually, they only grant a moratorium if you've lost your job or have zero steady income—basically if your bills are so high you literally can't cover the loan payments anymore. They might even deny you if they see you still have savings you're dipping into or if you're carrying a balance on a credit card.

Let me answer that for you. I've been a client with them for years now. I've always stayed on top of my previous loans and paid them back right on schedule. And yeah, my income used to be around $6,800...

I think I caught a segment on TV about being able to "pause" mortgage payments... there was some specific term for it (which I’ve honestly never heard before), but I can't quite place it right now...

From what I gathered, you can hit pause for six months, then maybe do it again for another six, and that's that...

Has anyone here actually gone through this? I'm curious how the whole process works in practice.

As far as I can tell, we're talking about a loan moratorium here, and those things aren't just handed out; you usually have to meet some pretty specific criteria, though I guess it really just depends on which bank you're dealing with. Most of the time, they’ll cut you some slack if you're expecting a baby, or maybe if you lose your job, but that's about the extent of it, more or less. 🤷

So, here I am, brand new to this board, but I’ve already managed to lose my mind in under an hour. I’ve been sitting here staring at my mortgage paperwork and the concept of a payment moratorium just flashed into my brain—and let me tell you, it went in one ear and out the other before I could even process how insane this is!!☕ Basically, my monthly payment is sitting right around $767, which means if I take a six-month break on payments through a moratorium, I’d end up owing the bank a total of 6x2300=$4.50... but get this: the actual cost to me ends up being $2611 !!!???? Are you kidding me?! It’s not even just the bank getting a little extra interest; they’re basically charging me more than half the damn principal amount just to catch a breath!!!!!!?????????? 😠