$50M in Mortgage Relief Available to Wyoming Homeowners

In early 2021, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law. This law created a Homeowner Assistance Fund, a federal program, to give around $10 billion to the states to help households that are behind on their mortgages and other housing expenses due to COVID-19.

Eligible Wyoming homeowners who've experienced a financial hardship because of COVID-19 can get a portion of the approximately $50 million allocated to the state—up to $35,000 per household—by applying to the Wyoming Homeowner Assistance Fund program. This program uses federal money to help homeowners make mortgage payments and pay other home-related costs, like property taxes, homeowners' insurance, and homeowners' association dues.

What Costs Does Wyoming's Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Cover?

You can get money from the Wyoming Homeowner Assistance Fund program for:

• delinquent mortgages
• partial claim assistance
• up to three consecutive months of forward mortgage payments, and
• overdue utilities, property taxes, homeowners' insurance, or homeowners' association dues.

Eligibility Requirements for the Wyoming Homeowner Assistance Fund Program

To qualify for relief from this program, you must have experienced a COVID-related financial hardship after January 21, 2020, that caused the household to become past due. You also have to meet additional guidelines like:

• The property must be owner-occupied and located in Wyoming.
• The property must be your primary residence. Second homes, investment properties, and vacant properties don't qualify.
• The property must be a single-family home (attached or detached), condo, one- to four-unit dwelling (if the homeowner lives in one of the units as a primary residence), or manufactured home permanently affixed to land and taxed as real estate.
• Your household income must be at or below 150% of the area median income.
• You must be delinquent by at least one payment, including due to a forbearance.
• If you're applying for mortgage help, the loan must be a first lien on the property, and you must not intend to sell the property within six months of getting assistance.

How the Wyoming Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Works

Assistance is in the form of a grant that you don't have to repay. The grant covers only arrears, not prospective or ongoing payments.

Payments from the program go directly to the loan servicer or other approved entity, not to homeowners.

How to Apply to the Wyoming Homeowner Assistance Fund Program

You can apply for assistance on the Wyoming Homeowner Assistance Fund Program website.

Avoid Homeowner Assistance Fund Scams

Be wary if you get an unsolicited offer by phone, mail, email, or text message offering mortgage relief or foreclosure rescue services. Scammers sometimes target homeowners who've been affected by COVID-19.

Homeowner Assistance Fund programs are free. If anyone asks you to pay a fee to get housing counseling or to receive foreclosure prevention services from this program, it's a scam.

Learn More About the Wyoming Homeowner Assistance Fund Program

If you need help with the application process or have questions about the Wyoming Homeowner Assistance Fund program, call 307-777-7564 or 800-457-3659 and read the program's FAQs.

You may also contact a HUD-approved housing counselor who will assist you at no cost. To find a counselor near you, go to HUD's website or call 800-569-4287. You may also contact the Wyoming Housing Network or myfrontdoor.org.

Facing a Foreclosure in Wyoming?

Even if a foreclosure has started, you might still have time to get assistance from the Wyoming Homeowner Assistance Fund program. Also, you might have time to work out an alternative to foreclosure with your loan servicer.

If you have questions about the foreclosure process in Wyoming or want to learn about potential defenses to a foreclosure, consider talking to a foreclosure lawyer.