Here’s how borrowers are missing out on mortgage, auto payment relief during coronavirus

With more than 30 million people out of work in just six weeks, more than half of Americans are concerned about their ability to make their mortgage and auto payments over the next three months, according to a new Bankrate survey. Yahoo Finance’s Sibile Marcellus joins Seana Smith to discuss.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: Welcome back to "Yahoo Finance's Live" market coverage. Bankrate is out with a new survey, and its findings are a little concerning. Now they say that more than half of mortgage and auto loan borrowers are worried about missing their payments over the next three months. Sibile Marcellus has more on this survey for us. And Sibile, what are the details?

SIBILE MARCELLUS: That's right, Seana. So more than half of people-- we're talking 54%-- are worried that they won't be able to make their mortgage and car payments in just the next three months. I dug into this Bankrate survey, and here's the level of concern. For mortgage borrowers, it's 17% very concerned, 18% somewhat concerned, 20% slightly concerned. But the elevated level of concern also applies to auto borrowers.

So what I found surprising is that despite all this worry, three in five people have not contacted their lenders to tell them that they're dealing with coronavirus financial hardship. And that is key, especially when it comes to federally backed mortgages because it's written in the Cares Act legislation. Right there, there is mortgage relief for Americans.

Number one, it prevents lenders from initiating a foreclosure against you for 60 days. And number two, it allows for borrowers to ask lenders for forbearance for up to 180 days. And if during that period of time your financial situation is not improved, you can ask for an extension, for additional 180 days of forbearance. So it's really up to you, the borrower, to let your lender know what's going on with you.

Now Democratic lawmakers do realize that that puts the onus on borrowers. So they've actually sent out letters to big banks, such as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and others, urging them to tell their customers that they do have forbearance protections under the CARES Act.

Now for those who do take the initiative, there are some rewards there. So nearly half of borrowers who contacted their lenders to talk about the financial issues that they were having, nearly half were granted mortgage relief and car payment relief, too. But a quarter did get rejected.

SEANA SMITH: All right, Sibile Marcellus, an interesting story. And it's important for people to know that they can reach out to their lenders, that they should reach out to their lenders. So thanks so much for bringing that to us.