Essential Strategies for Disaster Recovery

[This article will appear as a chapter in the forthcoming 2026 edition of Surviving Debt.]

Resources for Addressing Immediate Needs

Your top priority when a natural disaster hits, and you are not safe in place, is to seek safety immediately for everyone in the household.  If there is time, take or at least photograph vital documents, records, driver licenses, debit and credit cards, and the like. After you are in a safe place, or during transition, you will need to consider your immediate needs, such as food, baby formula, toiletries for personal hygiene, clean clothing, prescriptions, and any unique needs for older or disabled persons, survivors of domestic abuse, or others with special needs. 

211 State Resources. In many states, dialing “211” provides you with a shortcut through what can be a bewildering maze of health and human service agency phone numbers that may offer assistance. By simply dialing 211, you can be referred, and sometimes immediately connected, to agencies and community organizations that can help you. Many states also have 211 websites and may offer resources by text message.

State and Local Voluntary Organization Assistance. State and local Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) are also there to help you. Go to https://www.nvoad.org for a current list of available community services. 

Food Assistance. Food may be available from the federal Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) or food banks.  If you are not being paid at your job because of the emergency, consider disaster unemployment assistance for financial help. As you start purchasing items to get you through the emergency, be sure to check prices for unexpected increases since some merchants use the emergency to engage in unlawful price gouging. If you suspect that the prices are unreasonably high, contact your state Attorney General’s office. 

Mental Health and Crisis Counseling. Going through a disaster can be a harrowing experience, and you or your family members may need crisis or mental health counseling. Do not be embarrassed to ask for professional help. Many disaster survivors, including young children, require counseling and therapy for several years. Survivors may sustain physical injury or illness leading to several other long-term effects, and they often display symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a disaster. For example, survivors of tornados or floods may be triggered by, and experience stress-related health issues, during future tornado or flood alerts. Free resources exist, including the Disaster Distress Helpline (1-800-985-5990) that is staffed by trained crisis counselors and the National Alliance on Mental Health Helpline (1-800-950-NAMI (6264)).

FEMA Disaster Resources. When there is a presidential disaster declaration, there may be federal resources in place to address your needs through FEMA. FEMA disaster assistance may provide cash and non-cash assistance that supplements existing local resources but does not replace them, so it is important to also contact local 211 and VOAD. Call the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) to determine whether FEMA resources are available for your area. The hearing impaired may call FEMA at 1-800-462-7585.

Legal Assistance. You may also need legal advice. Disaster legal services may become available under a presidential disaster declaration, offering free legal services for low-income people impacted by the disaster. This free legal assistance will be offered by existing legal services programs, pro bono attorneys, and other local legal resources. You can call the National Disaster Legal Services Hotline to find information about resources in your state at 1-888-743-5749 or call 211.

Working with Volunteers and First Responders. When working with anyone helping your family, first make sure that you have enough information to make sure they are legitimate. After a disaster, many people are vulnerable and at risk of being scammed. If you have determined that they are legitimate, make sure to give them multiple ways to contact you including phone numbers and email addresses. After a disaster, you may have unreliable cell phone service or access to electricity. Also save their contact information in a reliable place, as you may need to reach them if they are unable to contact you. 

When seeking help from volunteers and responders, try to gather all your important documents and information if still available after the disaster and have them ready.  Before contacting someone for assistance, make a list of all questions you have and all issues you want to discuss. If you need to explain a complicated situation, write down a narrative ahead of time including important dates and names, phone numbers, and details.

Requesting Additional Resources for Your Needs. When working with someone offering one form of assistance, ask them for advice about other forms of help you may need in case they can refer you to someone else. For example, when talking to someone about food assistance, make sure they know whether your family has stable housing or needs a referral for housing or health assistance. 

After a hurricane, you may live in housing that is structurally unsound or growing mold. Although there may be nowhere to relocate (shelters and hotels may be destroyed or at capacity), anyone you contact for assistance may be able to provide you with contractor help for securing the structure and mold remediation assistance, as well as referrals to locations for housing options of which you were not aware.

FEMA Assistance

After a natural disaster the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) may be available to provide your family with extensive assistance. FEMA assistance is available only after the President declares a federal disaster. If the disaster you experienced was declared only as a local (township or county) or state disaster, then FEMA assistance may not be available. If there is a FEMA declaration, you can apply for assistance to find out if you are eligible.

This section discusses FEMA assistance after a presidential federal disaster declaration: types of available assistance, how to apply, how to keep track of your application and FEMA notices sent to you, your appeal rights if assistance is initially denied, and the important requirement that you may need to periodically recertify your eligibility some months after you start receiving assistance. In some cases, FEMA overpays what you are entitled to receive, and this section also explains your rights if FEMA seeks to recover the overpayment.

Types of Available Assistance. FEMA assistance is available for a period of up to 18 months from the date of a disaster declaration unless extended by FEMA’s administration due to extraordinary circumstances. The specific disaster declaration identifies which forms of FEMA assistance are available for you. 

Two of the most common forms of FEMA assistance are the Individuals and Households Program (IHP) and Other Needs Assistance (ONA). IHP provides money and direct services for repairs or costs for alternative housing and offers temporary housing units like FEMA trailers. ONA provides money for necessary expenses like replacement of personal property, childcare, medical and dental costs, funeral expenses, and other items. If FEMA provides you with money, it is a grant that you do not have to repay. The FEMA money should not impact your eligibility for income-based benefits and does not count for your income tax return. 

FEMA money is designed as funding of last resort after your local and state government have provided necessary help, and after your insurance policies have covered damage. You should not rely on FEMA assistance to completely cover the costs of damage. 

How to Apply for Assistance. Generally, apply as soon as possible for FEMA assistance either by calling 800-621-FEMA (6632) (TTY: 800-462-7585) or by submitting an online application at www.disasterassistance.gov. Depending on the type of disaster, FEMA may set up disaster recovery centers throughout the affected area and you can apply for FEMA assistance in-person. There is a 60-day deadline to apply, but FEMA may extend it.

It is very helpful is to create an account at www.disasterassistance.gov, that will improve your access to disaster information and make the application process easier. A www.disasterassistance.gov account automatically saves information about correspondence you send to FEMA and FEMA sends to you, even if you create the account several months or years after the disaster.

Apply for FEMA Assistance (Even If You Are Not Sure You Need It). If you were impacted by a federally declared disaster, you should apply for FEMA assistance. If it turns out you do not need it, you can always decline it.  Applying gets you a registration number that will often be necessary for yet-to-be-announced assistance in the future. 

Many local and state funds that provide money for home rebuilding, mortgage or rent assistance, replacement of appliances, and other necessities will require a FEMA registration number.  These programs may not be announced or funded until several months after the disaster, and in some cases more than one year may pass after the disaster before the programs become available. 

This assistance can be important even if you were not directly affected by the disaster initially, as you may later need disaster unemployment assistance or other disaster-specific financial assistance. Moreover, the more people in your area who apply for FEMA assistance, the more your area is likely to be allocated funding by FEMA and even by state and local programs. 

Even if you do not need immediate assistance, apply soon after the disaster for FEMA help which may be the only way to obtain a registration number. Don’t wait to see what kind of help may eventually become available.  Start an application and then you can decide what available assistance you need. Be truthful on your application. If you intentionally lie on your application and later receive funds, you could.be subject to penalties and criminal prosecution.

What to Do If FEMA Initially Denies Your Application. It is possible FEMA may deny your application.  You may not get assistance to repair your home if your insurance policy fully covers you or you did not report any damage to the home.  FEMA may deny the application if you did not adequately prove your home was occupied before the disaster, or if the home (or you) received FEMA assistance in the past but did not subsequently purchase insurance required by FEMA.

If your application is denied and you disagree with FEMA’s decision, you have sixty days to appeal the decision.  If you do not meet the deadline, you still may be able to appeal if you have a strong case and a good reason for your delay, but it is always better to file before the deadline. The longer you wait to appeal after missing the deadline, the stronger your reason must be for the late appeal. FEMA assistance is generally available for 18 months following the disaster declaration, unless extended. If you wait to appeal until when FEMA assistance is no longer available, your chance of receiving assistance goes way down.

Before filing an appeal, call the FEMA helpline at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) and request detailed information from the representative about why the application was denied. Take notes and ask the FEMA helpline staff to check their documents and explain what FEMA thought was missing in your application. Ask questions when something is not clear. 

You may find that information given to you about the status of an application and reasons for your denial may change from FEMA representative to representative, and the accuracy of information provided may vary.  It can’t hurt to ask a second representative to explain why the application was denied. You might also request from FEMA a copy of your FEMA file that might provide further information why your application was denied. 

You can submit the appeal by mail, fax, online at www.disasterassistance.gov, or in-person at a disaster recovery center. Appeals must be made in writing and explain the reasons for the appeal. You can have someone else file the appeal for you, but you must sign a statement authorizing the other person to represent you.  FEMA will provide a written notice of its decision within 90 days after receipt of the appeal. Its decision is final, although you might be able to try another appeal on a different issue.

It Is Critical That You Periodically Recertify Your Needs and Efforts. If you receive some form of FEMA temporary cash assistance, typically rental or housing-related, you must recertify over the coming months and even years to avoid losing payments. For example, you may need to submit receipts once every three months documenting disaster-related housing costs and a lack of adequate alternate housing.

You can lose FEMA assistance if you do not respond properly to notices you receive from FEMA asking for this information, called “recertification.” Typically these problems occur if someone forgets to recertify, misses the mail notice of the approaching recertification deadline, or does not understand what type of documentation must be provided with the recertification.

Utilize your www.disasterassistance.gov account to monitor correspondence and call the FEMA helpline to speak with an agent about what is needed in your recertification submission. Set calendar appointments on your mobile device for two to three weeks before the next three-month required recertification to prepare what is needed and submit the recertification on time. 

If you lose your benefits because FEMA did not think you properly recertified, you can submit an appeal. A 60-day appeal deadline applies, but a late appeal may be appropriate in certain cases.

When FEMA Sends You Too Much Money and Demands You Repay It. FEMA sometimes sends too much money and then demands repayment (called “recoupment”). This often occurs four months to one year after the disaster but may happen even later than that. A common reason is for receiving benefits twice. For example, you received FEMA assistance but also received money for the same loss from a successful insurance claim. In these cases, FEMA demands repayment of the money it gave you because your insurance policy covered the damage. If you never received funds from an insurance claim, however, then there is nothing to repay FEMA. 

FEMA will send you a notice of debt to initiate its repayment demand. If the notice does not clearly specify the reason, call the FEMA Recoupment Helpline (1-800-816-1122) and the representative can provide more detail. Be sure to make a note of the helpline representative’s name and employee ID number, the time and date of your conversation, and what information was provided. 

You can request that FEMA forgive (or “waive”) your debt. FEMA should waive your debt when requiring you to pay would be against “equity and good conscience”—for example, the overpayment was completely FEMA’s fault. You can also ask for a hardship waiver if you can’t afford to repay the debt. If these attempts to challenge the repayment demand do not work, you can appeal the recoupment decision within 60 days. If you miss that deadline but think you have a good chance of succeeding on appeal, you can try a late appeal. If you are already losing funds because FEMA started collecting on the debt, then a late appeal may need to be sent both to FEMA and the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

If you file an appeal, you can request an oral hearing but FEMA does not have to allow it. Once FEMA issues its decision, the determination is final unless you want to go to court. After the decision is final and if you do not pay it back, the U.S. Department of the Treasury can collect the funds by garnishing a portion of your wages, seizing your tax refund, or reducing your federal benefits.  

State and Local Grant Programs

State and local grant programs may provide you with needed funds and resources for disaster relief in addition to, or instead of, FEMA assistance.  After a federal disaster declaration, Congress may send funds to your state or locality for housing repair, rental assistance, replacing personal property and appliances, and other services. 

The state or locality may then set out eligibility guidelines and hire private companies to further administer the grants. As with FEMA grants, if you feel your application for a state or local grant is improperly denied, you can appeal. Be truthful on your application and appeal. If you intentionally lie and later receive funds, you could be subject to penalties and criminal prosecution.

Flood and Homeowner Insurance Claims

Filing an Insurance Claim and How You Receive Payment. Check to see what insurance you have covering your property—you may have both homeowners and flood insurance.  If you have a mortgage, your lender will require proof of homeowner insurance and, if your home is in a designated flood zone, flood insurance. Homeowners without mortgages generally are not required to maintain any form of insurance, but you may still have an active policy that can cover the damage. 

If you have insurance, you should file insurance claims as soon as possible for any damage to your home and personal property. Do not wait for a decision on your insurance claim before submitting a FEMA assistance application—and do not wait for a FEMA decision before submitting your insurance claims.

Most home damage insurance claims will involve an inspector or appraiser visiting the property and preparing an inspection report for the insurance company. Then the insurance company approves the claim for a certain dollar amount or denies the claim. If the loss was caused by a covered peril, then under most standard homeowner insurance contracts you should receive enough money to repair the loss. But this is not always the case and your claim decision letter may provide additional information about coverage limitations.

If the insurance company approves the claim and you have a mortgage, the funds likely will issue both to you and to your mortgage company (or mortgage servicer that sends you monthly statements). Your mortgage servicer might say you need to sign the back of the check and send the check to them, and then your mortgage servicer will sign and deposit the check into an escrow account. After that, you will need to comply with mortgage servicer’s requirements to get funds disbursed from the escrow fund for repairs. 

Mortgage servicers usually require documented proof of a licensed contractor with W-2 forms and an itemized repair estimate, and they release the funds in thirds with property progress inspections before the second and third disbursals. This process may frustrate you, but this is standard practice and not only protects the mortgage lender but also protects you. This way your contractor cannot disappear with all of the money before completing repairs. 

Commons Reasons for Insurance Denials and What to Do If Your Claim Is Denied. If your insurance claim is denied, your claim denial letter and insurance policy should explain your rights and important deadlines for filing an appeal or filing a claim in court. To attempt a successful appeal, you must comply with the stated deadline. If you file a lawsuit in court seeking a different claim decision, you will need to show that you complied with any contractual policy deadlines and processes before filing the lawsuit.

Damage Not Covered by Policy. Insurance companies may deny your claim if they think your damage is caused by something not covered by the insurance policy. For example, a hurricane may cause damage to your home both from wind-driven rain and ground-up flooding. The insurance company covering the wind damage may deny the claim, arguing it is flood damage. The flood insurer may deny the claim, saying it is wind damage. If this happens, you should seek help as soon as possible so you can submit necessary appeals for coverage before the deadline.

Named-Storm Deductible. Your insurance claim coverage may be reduced if the insurance policy reduces how much you receive from a storm that has a name (commonly called “Named-Storm Deductible”), such as Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Harvey. You can carefully read your policy, policy riders, and the claim decision letter.  You may need professional help to appeal a claim denial. 

Competing Coverage Denials. Complications may arise if you reside in a condominium.  The insurance company covering your unit may deny a claim if they think the damage should be covered by the condominium association’s master insurance policy. Depending on the condominium association board operations, this scenario can lead to extensive delays in obtaining repairs if the master policy insurer disagrees with or denies the association’s claim, or if the condominium association board is not forthcoming with residents about the status of claims. Again, seek professional help. 

Specific Policy Exclusions. Denials or low claim awards usually occur for specific policy exclusions, which are listed in the claim decision letter. Denial reasons can include that the damage pre-dated the disaster (pre-existing damage), was the result of general lack of home maintenance and not the disaster, or the exact same damage was paid in an earlier insurance claim but never fixed. Some insurance policies contain clauses that allow the insurer to cancel policy coverage if repairs are neither started nor completed within a specified timeframe.

Special Issues with Flood Insurance. Most flood insurance policies are governed by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The federal government also allows private insurers to create their own flood insurance policies. Because the NFIP has a maximum policy limit of $250,000 for building coverage, check to see if you have additional policy coverage for losses that exceed the NFIP limit. For flood insurance governed by the NFIP, all policies are the same whether you obtained your policy directly from the NFIP or from a private insurer.

Unlike homeowner insurance, NFIP flood insurance policies do not indemnify the entire loss. If your home suffered three feet of flood damage thereby ruining the entire structure, the NFIP policy will pay for replacement costs of three feet of drywall and other necessary materials. It will not pay the cost of all repairs needed to rebuild the structure. You can seek help for the difference from a state or local grant provider to cover the full repair cost that exceeds the flood insurance payout.

If you want to dispute or appeal the amount the flood insurance is paying out, you must provide a “proof of loss form” within 60 days of the disaster. This is different from other insurance policy deadlines which usually run from the date of the claim decision letter. Therefore, you should file the flood insurance claim right away after the disaster happens, and you may even want to file the proof of loss form within the 60 days even if you have not heard about your claim. If you miss the deadline, it could make a later dispute or appeal very difficult to win. Sometimes the 60-day limit is extended—you can ask your flood insurance company.

Public Adjusters

If your insurance claim did not provide enough money for repairs, public adjusters may be able to help you increase your insurance claim award. Generally public adjusters take payment as a percentage of the increased claim amount—this means even if the public adjuster helps you get the full amount of money needed for repairs, you may not have enough money for repairs since the public adjuster will take a percentage of the insurance payout. Although there are reputable and ethical public adjusters who do good work to help you obtain an adequate insurance award, watch out for adjusters who are just storm-chasing scammers looking to rip you off.  Most states require public adjusters to obtain a license in the state where they offer services, and some states limit the allowable percentage that public adjusters can charge for services.

Be wary of a public adjuster who gives you a contract to sign where the adjuster handles all aspects of the claim from day one. The public adjuster may then contact the insurance company to request that insurance funds be sent to the adjuster’s name and address, do little or no work, and then take a percentage of the claim award after the insurance company’s own inspector submits the claim award recommendation. In other cases, the public adjuster signs a contract after the original claim was denied or underpaid; they have the homeowner take photos and request subsequent inspections, again doing little or no work, and then take a percentage of the increased claim award. If you think you did business with a public adjuster who did not actually help you adjust your claim, you can notify your state attorney general and also seek legal assistance. 

Home Repairs

Be careful and thoughtful when hiring home repair contractors. After a disaster damages to your home, you may feel the urge to quickly find a home repair contractor who can restore the home back to normal. You have just gone through a disaster, worried about all kinds of issues, and want to get back to normal as soon as possible.  But do not be fooled by a smooth-talking contractor who promises unrealistic time frames for completing repair work, often at unrealistically low prices. Even if you hire a reputable and ethical contractor, the stressors on the contractor from other competing jobs can result in delays and shoddy work.

Home elevation contractors are separately licensed. If you sustained flood damage, you may be required to increase the height of your home’s living area (called elevation) when rebuilding consistent with municipal or FEMA requirements. Home elevation contractors are separately licensed in many states.

Scam Home Repair Contractors. Storm-chasers show up quickly after a disaster. They track media coverage for when the disaster will hit and start planning in advance. Often, they go door-to-door offering services in affected neighborhoods, create flyers and materials advertising their services, and may have professional-looking business websites or Facebook pages with phony customer reviews.

Before hiring a contractor, you should ask for proof of a valid state home repair license. You can also ask to speak with two to three of their prior clients and see photos of the work that they performed. You still must be careful, however, because scammers are sophisticated and can obtain a state license number and provide fake references. It may be safer to hire a company that has worked in your area for some time before the disaster and has a good local reputation.

Scam home repair contractors may begin work based on an intentionally low price estimate, receive partial or full payment, and disappear usually leaving the house in the same or worse condition than before they were hired. Other scam contractors find mortgage-free homeowners or people willing to pay from their personal accounts, then demand full payment up-front so they can expedite work and then disappear without ever showing up for a day of work. The contractors skip town and go to the next storm somewhere else in the country. Not only will you have to pay another contractor all over again, but there is no guarantee that the next contractor will provide appropriate services.

Scammers often string homeowners along. They do just enough work to encourage you to keep paying due to “increased supply costs” or “unexpected fees.” But the contractor is not complying with the contract terms and therefore payments should not be continued. Watch out for contractors who alleviate your concerns just long enough for you to make the next payment.  Do not feel pressured to keep paying them when the work is not being completed. If you think you are being scammed, contact your state attorney general and also seek legal assistance.

Home Repair Contractors Who Are Not Scammers. Not all home repair contractors offering services after a disaster are scammers. Many are reputable, but their good reputation may lead to an influx of business that causes indefinite work delays because of limited staffing availability and building materials.

Some of these contractors maintain communications with the homeowners as much as possible. If a homeowner is too persistent in contacting the contractor, the contractor may stop taking calls but periodically continue the work until completion. Other contractors cease communication and then, due to stress or being overwhelmed, the job remains unfinished. Other issues may arise with reputable contractors whose work does not pass code inspection because of rushed or shoddy work.

Home Repair Contractor Liens. If a home repair contractor completes contractually agreed-upon services and does not get paid, they may have the right to sue you in court. In addition, they may have the right to pursue a contractor lien against the property. If they obtain the lien, this typically means that the lien amount must be paid off in full before you can transfer property title to someone else or obtain new mortgage financing. Generally, payment of the lien can happen from your own funds, or from sale or mortgage proceeds. Your rights and the contractor’s rights concerning the lien will vary by state.

Unsurprisingly, scam contractors also file contractor liens. These unscrupulous parties do little to no work on the property and pursue an improper lien on the homeowner’s property, giving them leverage whenever the home is sold or a new mortgage taken out. 

If you learn about contractor liens only after their entry, you should seek legal advice. In disaster-affected areas, county recording staff may operate with limited resources for extended periods, resulting in liens being improperly placed on your property.

Local Building Codes May Cause You Problems. Whether you do major repairs yourself or through a contractor, you may face issues both in obtaining building permits and complying with building codes for the needed work.  You may need an inspection certificate before you can occupy the home or continue making repairs, but the local code office or inspectors may be unavailable due to the disaster. 

Reasons That a Home May Fail Inspection. A home can fail inspection if the contractor did shoddy work, or if previous work on your house was not code-compliant, or if the house is so old that it never complied with the current code. The costs and work required to make the home code-compliant may be extensive.

Budgeting for Local Code Permits. A building permit may be expensive.  Reputable contractors itemize and include this cost in the work invoice. Be sure to confirm if a contractor’s invoice includes the cost of a building permit.  

Municipal Zoning Variance Applications. A homeowner needing repairs that violate municipal zoning regulations must apply for a zoning variance. Variance applications often require legal notice and a hearing before the municipal governing body. Other residents may object to the variance application. If the variance application is denied, and a homeowner may encounter further costs for changing the scope of repair work.

Requirements to Elevate Homes in Flood Areas

If you are in a flood zone and your home experiences flood damage, your flood insurer or municipal code office may require you to elevate your home to avoid future flood damage. You can search your address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center website to find out if your home is in a flood-risk zone at https://msc.fema.gov/portal/search.

Deciding to elevate. If you are required to elevate, it can be expensive, ranging from $6,000 to upwards of $90,000, depending on many variables including home footprint, soil quality, the elevation height requirement, and materials costs. If you decide not to elevate, it could result in additional costs and expenses afterward: future flood insurance (which may be required by your mortgage lender) will likely be more expensive, the home may not be eligible for some forms of future FEMA disaster assistance, and you may be in violation of the local building code which could lead to expensive municipal violation fines.

Paying for elevation costs. If you must elevate your home and have flood insurance, an NFIP policy may cover up to $30,000 of the elevation cost (Increased Cost of Compliance coverage). Whether you are entitled to the $30,000 assistance and whether there will be harsh consequences for not elevating your home will be determined by the local floodplain manager.

Your local floodplain manager will issue a determination (Substantial Damage Determination) as to whether the recent flood damage cost exceeds 50% of the property’s pre-disaster fair market value. If the damage is more than 50% of the pre-disaster value, that will most likely trigger your entitlement to request the NFIP Increased Cost of Compliance coverage, and will also trigger the expensive consequences of not elevating. If you think the Substantial Damage Determination letter is inaccurate (either too high or too low), you can appeal the determination.

Lasting Financial Problems Following a Disaster

After a disaster, you have immediate needs and expenses, and your best steps are surveyed earlier in this chapter.  Paying for these surprise expenses that are not covered by FEMA, state or local grants, or insurance may have long-lasting effects on your debt and credit—especially if you also experience loss of wages due to the disaster.  All this can have a lasting impact on your ability to pay even your normal bills. Best strategies for prioritizing, delaying, and even reducing your other bills over time are set out in this book’s earlier chapters.

Mortgage Payment Relief. One of the most important financial obligations is paying your mortgage. NCLC's Surviving Debt Chapter 17 discusses general ways to delay and reduce the size of your mortgage payment. In addition to those options, you may be entitled to additional special mortgage payment assistance after a disaster. This may involve a pause on your monthly mortgage payment (forbearance), suspension of credit reporting for non-payment, suspension of late charges, reductions or a pause on changes to your monthly payment amount, and distributing insurance proceeds to you early. 

The special disaster mortgage assistance available to you will depend on several factors. One will be the severity of the disaster. Another factor will be what company owns or insures your mortgage loan.  Each company has its own rules for disaster assistance and types of assistance, depending whether the insurer is Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the VA, FHA, or the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service. NCLC's Surviving Debt Chapter 17 provides guidance on how to find out what company insures your mortgage. You can also ask your mortgage servicer.  You should also ask the mortgage servicer what special assistance is available to you after this disaster, but don’t rely just on the mortgage servicer’s advice as they might not always be aware of the full range of options! 

Free Housing Counseling. For advice as to your rights in dealing with your mortgage after a disaster, you can obtain free HUD-certified housing counseling by calling 800-569-4287 (TDD 800-877-8339) or by visiting www.hud.gov/counseling. You can also contact your local government housing office or a community group that addresses housing and homeownership to see if they can refer you to a counselor. If you received pre-purchase education about homeownership, contact the organization that provided your classes. It also can’t hurt to ask the servicer if it knows about a program for homeowner assistance in your community.

Beware of Scammers. If someone contacts you out of the blue offering to help you reduce your mortgage payments for a fee, this is a Red Flag. Make sure you are dealing with a legitimate nonprofit agency with experience in default and delinquency counseling—genuine and legitimate agencies do not charge a fee and do not take your mortgage payments. There are many scammers that advertise mortgage counseling or mortgage payment reduction assistance, but end up taking the money and doing nothing to help you actually resolve the mortgage payments.

Other Consumer Debts. After a disaster, you can ask your other creditors about what help or relief they can offer for debt that you owe. It cannot hurt to ask if they will allow you to skip a few payments, reduce your interest rate or balance, or offer any programs to help you recover from the disaster.

Preparing for the Next Disaster

Once the dust has settled from the current disaster, it is a good time to think about disaster preparedness for a possible future disaster. 

Evacuation Preparedness. Maintain portable water and electricity sources like batteries or portable charger devices. Take photos of personal belongings and your residence, inside and out. The outside photos should show pre-disaster foundation alignment and the condition of awnings, the roof, and siding. Take photos of vehicles—exterior and interior condition. 

Keep important vital documents like your birth certificate, Social Security card, and loan documents in one safe place. Take photos of these documents and send the photos to yourself so they are always accessible by computer or smart phone, in case the original photos are lost.

Make sure that your driver’s license is updated to the proper primary residence address.  Create a family emergency communication plan.  Review your insurance policies.  Save contact information of several reputable contractors in your community.

Sign up for alerts from the state and 211 resource centers to receive updates about available relief programs and health and safety guidance. Eligible individuals may miss out on grants, legal relief, assistance programs, and other beneficial options if they are not aware of programs—some programs close applications quickly when they run out of funds.

Additional Resources

NCLC's Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications Chapter 12: Homeowner Rights During Natural Disasters and COVID-19

NCLC's Surviving Debt Chapter 16: What Every Homeowner Should Know About Mortgage Payments

NCLC's Surviving Debt Chapter 17: When You Are Having Trouble Making Mortgage Payments