If your home is destroyed by a fire, flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake or other natural disaster, knowing what to do next can help you regain control and begin rebuilding your life.
Safety first
Before anything else, ensure you and your loved ones are safe and accounted for. If emergency responders are present, follow their instructions. Avoid entering the damaged home until authorities declare it safe. Structural hazards, gas leaks or exposed wiring can be deadly.
First steps
After a disaster, it is still necessary to pay the mortgage. First, contact the insurance company with your homeowner's policy and file a claim.
Then, get information from local agencies and apply for aid from government organizations.
As soon as you are able, contact your mortgage servicer and let them know what happened. If you can't make your payments, ask them to adjust them so you don't fall behind and incur fees or face foreclosure.
If you can't live in your home
If you cannot return to your home after a natural disaster, the Red Cross provides temporary housing and will open shelters to provide a safe place to stay, meals and other support.
You also may qualify for assistance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) may provide Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) to eligible disaster survivors who need shelter after the temporary shelters have closed. This initiative offers short-term lodging for eligible disaster survivors whose communities are uninhabitable or inaccessible due to disaster-related damage.
FEMA may help you with:
Reimbursement of hotel expenses for short-term lodging
Initial rent money, plus a security deposit, to find a place to live if you can't return to your home
Continued rental assistance for up to 18 months for qualified applicants while your home is being repaired
FEMA also has housing assistance programs for people whose homes have been destroyed, including financial assistance to help with any additional costs of replacing your home that isn't covered by insurance.
Replace vital documents
If you could not bring them with you, it will be necessary to replace identification, insurance papers, bank records and other important documents. These are the ones to get first:
Driver's license from the local Department of Motor Vehicles
Social Security cards from the local Social Security office
Birth certificates from your state's vital records office
Passports from the U.S. Department of State
Local government offices and the American Red Cross can provide more assistance to guide you through this process.
Document what you can
While you'll want to contact your insurance provider as soon as possible to file a claim and request an adjuster to assess the situation, depending on the extent of the damage in your location, it may take several days for someone to arrive at the site.
Document everything by taking photos or videos of your property and creating an inventory of what was lost. If you can return to your property, don't discard damaged items until your insurer has seen them.
Avoiding foreclosure
If you're struggling to make your mortgage payment or can't meet your reverse mortgage obligations, such as paying taxes and insurance, there are resources and potential options to avoid foreclosure.
Call your mortgage servicer and be sure to ask:
What options are available to help me temporarily reduce or suspend my payments?
Are there forbearance options?
Can you waive late fees?
The amount and type of aid you receive may depend on the type of mortgage loan you have.
If you have a mortgage loan that is not insured or sponsored by entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, any disaster relief or assistance will be up to the owner or servicer of your loan. Federal rules allow, but do not require, an owner or servicer to offer help in the event of a disaster. For example, government-sponsored or government-insured mortgage loans have guidelines that allow servicers to stop or delay a foreclosure proceeding.
If you have a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgage and you can't pay because of the disaster, your lender may be able to help you. If you're at risk of losing your home because of the disaster, your lender may stop or delay the initiation of foreclosure for 90 days. This is called a "foreclosure moratorium."
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) also provides information and assistance to veteran borrowers.
If you need additional information, are facing imminent foreclosure or have been served with legal papers, you might also need to consult an attorney.
Source: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
