Even after being cautioned about issues, some mortgage servicers continued to provide borrowers with misleading or limited information about forbearance options on their websites, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General.

The report followed up on a study in April evaluating the websites of 30 servicers of Federal Housing Administration mortgages. The April study found that servicers’ websites gave “incomplete, inconsistent, dated and unclear guidance to borrowers related to their forbearance options under the CARES Act.” The 30 companies service approximately 90 percent of FHA loans, the OIG said.

The CARES Act allows borrowers affected by the pandemic to request forbearance for an initial period of up to 180 days and an extension of another 180 days.

“We cautioned that lack of clear and consistent guidance from FHA servicers and enforcement by FHA of that guidance allows servicers to leave struggling homeowners unable to make informed decisions about paying their mortgages and relief that may be available to them during this pandemic,” the OIG said in a statement.

The OIG performed follow-up evaluations of these websites in August, releasing the results this week. While the subsequent study showed that almost all of the servicers updated the information on their websites following April’s report, the OIG said it continued to find issues.

According to the follow-up report, nine servicers had information on their websites suggesting the initial forbearance period was or could be less than 180 days, with 90 days as the most common period. Others listed 60 or 30 days as the forbearance period.

Some websites said borrowers would need to apply for a “pandemic relief plan” or complete a “loan hardship form,” the OIG said, noting that other websites also used language that was not in in the CARES Act or did not clearly state that forbearance was an option for borrowers. Nine websites did not clarify that borrowers were entitled to a forbearance extension.

The study also found that six websites did not provide information about forbearance, four did not clearly label the relief options, while others required borrowers to log into their accounts to access forbearance information.

The OIG also said some servicers did not provide clear information about options available to borrowers once forbearance ends.

“FHA data indicate that the number of borrowers seeking forbearance continues to increase and some borrowers are beginning to leave forbearance,” the OIG said in the report. “Additionally, Fannie Mae found that some borrowers are not aware of their relief options. For these reasons, complete and accurate information on servicers’ websites is all the more important.”