No FEMA Aid Yet for Isaias Homeowners. Call Your Mortgage Servicer Anyway.

Update, October 18, 2026: Florida has now asked. On October 16, the governor’s office said the state submitted a Major Disaster Declaration request to the president, with Individual Assistance requested for eight counties: Bay, Escambia, Gulf, Holmes, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington. Seven more (Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Jackson, Jefferson, Liberty and Wakulla) are in it for public assistance only, which pays governments, not households. As of today we found no approval. If you’re in one of the eight, the disaster forbearance below hinges on that decision, so ask your servicer for hardship forbearance now and for disaster terms if FEMA approves. If you’re in one of the other seven, your county isn’t in the request for the label that unlocks disaster forbearance. The standard hardship route is your route. Call this week.

If Isaias tore up your house and the November mortgage payment is starting to look shaky, don’t wait for FEMA to make the first move. Call your mortgage servicer this week.

The best mortgage relief after a hurricane runs on a FEMA label Isaias doesn’t have yet.

What FEMA has and hasn’t done

Florida, Alabama and Georgia each got an emergency declaration. Those cover government response costs. None of them includes Individual Assistance, the FEMA program that helps households with repairs and rent.

On October 14, Escambia and Santa Rosa counties both confirmed that FEMA individual aid isn’t available to residents. Escambia County and Pensacola met with the state that day to start pushing for a major disaster declaration. Escambia’s first estimate of public damage alone: $64 million.

Why the label matters for your mortgage

Freddie Mac’s disaster forbearance is the good stuff. Your servicer can pause or cut payments for 90 days, extend it up to 12 months, and charge no late fees. The catch is eligibility. Your home or job has to be in a federally declared disaster area that FEMA has made eligible for individual assistance.

FHA works the same way. HUD’s 90-day foreclosure moratorium follows a major disaster declaration.

And those can take a while. Indiana’s August 11 storms got a major disaster declaration on August 25. Kentucky’s January winter storm got one on May 29, four months later. Nobody can tell you which way Isaias goes.

Here’s what they don’t tell you

You don’t need the label to ask. Freddie’s own disaster page says that if you’re not in a declared area, “contact your mortgage servicer, because you may be eligible for our standard assistance options, which also could include forbearance and loan modifications.”

Translation: the hardship door is open now. The disaster door might open later.

One thing to keep straight. Forbearance is a pause, not a gift. On a $2,000 payment, three skipped months is $6,000 you still owe. Freddie lists four ways to settle it: a lump sum, a repayment plan, a payment deferral that pushes the missed amount to when you sell or pay off the loan, or a modification. If a servicer tells you a lump sum is your only choice, ask about the other three by name. And read our take on modifications that park principal before you sign one.

Do this now

Call before you miss a payment, not after. A missed payment you arranged in advance is a very different conversation from one the servicer discovers.

Ask your servicer who owns or insures your loan, because Freddie, Fannie, FHA and VA each run their own rules. Then ask for hardship forbearance today and a switch to disaster terms if FEMA adds Individual Assistance. Get the length, the late-fee terms and the exit options in writing.

In Escambia County, report your damage through the county’s Citizen Damage Report at myescambia.com. The city says it’s not a FEMA application, but it feeds the damage count behind a major declaration.

Stuck? Freddie’s 800-FREDDIE line connects you with a HUD-certified housing counselor, and HUD’s counseling line is 1-800-569-4287. Both are free.

If you haven’t filed the insurance claim yet, read why you should file even under your hurricane deductible. Plug a deferral or modification into our mortgage calculator to see the new payment, and find more homeowner coverage on the mortgages hub.

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