Forbearance is a handy option that will give you enough time to pool in your assets. This is an ideal option that would help you to tide over temporary cash crunch and financial instabilities due to loss of job or hospitalization. In Loan forbearance, you can delay or decrease the amount of repayments for a short period, that too without the risk of a default. However you should make sure that at the close of forbearance with your account is brought back to the current status by making use of another suitable financial instrument. 

Any mortgage company contact would help you in getting forbearance. In some cases, the lenders might agree to combine a repayment plan too with forbearance, provided you have the requisite funds to bring your account by a specific date. 

In Standard Repayment plan, you can pay a stipulated monthly amount, starting from as low as $50 as monthly payment, for a term of up to 10 years. In case of smaller loan amounts, the term can be shorter than 10 years. It is an ideal option for regular salaried class. Income-Contingent Repayment is an exclusive option for Direct Loan borrowers, where monthly payments are based on the borrower’s income apart from the total debt amount. In this case the installments are adjusted annually according to the borrower’s income changes. The maximum loan term is up to 25 years, when any remaining loan amount will be written off. However the discharged amount is taxable.

Some finance companies charge you 0.5-2% of the loan amount as redemption charges in case you decide to repay the loan before the term. It is sensible to borrow from a bank where the loan redemption charges are not very high. Before opting for the loan, make sure to discuss your priorities to grab the best deals.