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Forbearance: what it means

Forbearance is an agreement with your loan servicer to pause your mortgage payments, or make smaller payments, for a while when you face a hardship such as losing your job, a natural disaster or unexpected medical costs. It does not erase or reduce what you owe: you have to repay the missed or reduced amounts later.

In Spanish it is

Indulgencia de pagos (forbearance)

Also written as: mortgage forbearance · forbearance plan

Verified on October 17, 2026

2 official sources

See the whole dictionary

The full explanation

Depending on the agreement, you may repay it all at once at the end, add it to the end of the loan, repay it with a new loan or spread it out through higher payments for a time. You have to request it from your servicer.

An example

A hurricane damages the Ortiz family's home and the father is out of work for a while. They ask their servicer for forbearance and, before signing, ask how they will have to repay the payments they skip.

You will see it in…

Your servicer's letters about help options
The forbearance agreement
Your mortgage statements during and after the pause

Words that go with it

You will rarely see this word alone. These are the ones that show up with it on the same papers.

More guides that use “forbearance”

Still confused by a paper?

A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk you through it. Agencies usually charge little or nothing, many work in Spanish, and they do not sell you anything.

What a housing counselor does See free help

Official sources

We sum up what these official sources say, in plain words. We add no rules they do not state; when a rule changes, the definition and its date change.

1. CFPB · What is mortgage forbearance? (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026
2. CFPB · Mortgages key terms: forbearance (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026