New York homeowners hit by COVID could pause mortgage payments for 180 days

If COVID-19 caused financial hardship on your primary New York home, the law generally required a state-regulated bank or mortgage servicer to pause all monthly payments for up to 180 days. You could request up to 180 more days if the hardship continued. It covered owner-occupied one- to four-family homes, condos, and co-ops. Federally backed and SONYMA loans were excluded because separate programs governed them. You had to apply and demonstrate the hardship; relief could be backdated to March 7, 2020.

When the pause ended, you did not have to pay everything back at once. You could extend the loan by the months paused, spread the arrears over the remaining term, or negotiate a loan modification. If no reasonable agreement was reached, the lender had to offer a non-interest-bearing balloon due when the mortgage matured or the home was sold or refinanced. These options avoided late fees, penalties, and additional interest on the forborne amounts, and using them could not be reported negatively. A lender had to comply before starting foreclosure over covered missed payments. Banks could deny relief for capital or liquidity safety reasons but had to notify the Department of Financial Services.

Sen. Brian Kavanagh and Assembly Member Nily Rozic sponsored the law, with Sen. Todd Kaminsky as a Senate co-sponsor. The Senate passed it 62–0, and the Assembly passed it 111–33, with eight Republicans joining Democrats and the chamber’s independent member in support. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it on June 17, 2020.