Like millions of other Americans, the Queens took advantage of what's called a COVID mortgage forbearance, which allowed homeowners to skip mortgage payments. It was set up by Congress after the pandemic hit for people who lost income.

During a government shutdown I almost fell for this trap. I can see how many would fall for it.
We were all told (I may even have it in writing somewhere) that we could skip six months of payments. And once we get back on our feet ( get paid again) we could start paying again and wouldn't owe the missed payments in a big lump sum.

"I very specifically asked 'how does this work?'" says Becky Queen. "They said we're taking all of your payments, we're bundling them, and we're putting them at the end."

That's exactly what I was told. Only I did not believe them. Unfortunately. Millions of Americans did.