Freddie Offers MF Forbearance in Gulf

Freddie Mac has announced a 90-day moratorium on payments of principal and interest to multifamily borrowers with properties in major disaster areas linked to Hurricane Katrina.Borrowers with properties in disaster areas qualified for individual assistance (as designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency) should contact their Freddie Mac seller/servicer for more information, the government-sponsored enterprise said. "We are taking this step to help ensure that our multifamily seller/servicers and borrowers have the financial resources they need in the wake of this unusually destructive storm," said Richard F. Syron, Freddie Mac's chairman and chief executive officer. Freddie Mac said the forbearance policy complements the one set forth for its single-family borrowers.