I have daily headlines coming over my news subscription feed about more and more consumers asking their mortgage companies for a forbearance. 

First, what is a forbearance? In simple terms, and per “The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition”, a forbearance is “The act of giving a debtor more time to pay rather than immediately enforcing a debt that is due.”. 

In short, you’re asking to postpone paying the monthly debt you owe your mortgage company. You still owe that money and you’re just asking the mortgage company for more time to make that payment.  

What I am finding is that many confuse forbearance with debt forgiveness, or loan modification. 

Debt forgiveness is a cancelation of all or part your debt. Your creditor, in this case the mortgage company, relieves a debtor from a debt obligation. 

A loan modification in simple terms is when a change (modification) is made to your current loan. This change could be temporary or permanent. It could be a reduction of the interest rate, longer repayment plan, or even a different type of loan.  

To find out what options you have, you need to contact your lien holder directly. The one thing not to do is nothing, especially when you cannot make your debt payment in time.