A mortgage-payment freeze in Israel is usually a deferral, not cancellation of the debt. Before stopping a payment, establish whether you are requesting an ordinary bank arrangement, applying under a specific relief scheme, or relying on a statutory right. Their eligibility, costs, deadlines and approval requirements are different.
For an ordinary request, keep paying until the lender approves the arrangement. Ask for the revised schedule and total cost in writing. If you already have arrears, a demand letter or an enforcement file, obtain advice promptly: asking for a freeze does not itself stop collection.
Checked on 1 November 2026. Historical schemes below are dated and are not presented as open application windows. This is general information, not legal or tax advice; confirm with a licensed professional.
Full deferral, principal-only deferral and debt cancellation
A full payment deferral postpones both principal and interest payments for the agreed period. A principal-only deferral keeps interest payments running. Neither expression, by itself, tells you whether interest accrues, linkage continues, the term changes or the bank charges a fee.
The Bank of Jerusalem’s borrower guidance distinguishes full and partial deferral, requires bank approval and explains that an ordinary arrangement can add interest and increase later payments. Those are that bank’s published explanations, not a universal contractual promise from every lender.
A separately granted waiver of a payment is different from postponement. Read the approval for exactly what is waived and what remains due. Do not infer debt cancellation from a headline saying that borrowers receive relief.
What to ask your lender before agreeing
- Which loan accounts and payment dates are included, and is approval already effective?
- Is principal, interest or both being deferred? What happens to CPI linkage on linked tracks?
- What interest, fees or other charges apply during and after the deferral?
- Will the deferred amount be paid at the end, spread through remaining payments, paid as a separate loan or collected another way?
- What will the new monthly payment be, when does it start and what is the final maturity date?
- What is the revised total repayment, including any later lump sum?
- How will the arrangement and any existing arrears be reported inside the bank and to the credit-data system?
- Does it affect a planned sale, mortgage transfer, refinance, guarantor or other security?
Keep the answer, revised amortisation schedule and reference number. A call-centre conversation about possibilities is not the same as an accepted instruction on every mortgage track.
Compare the cost using the same assumptions
A smaller payment today can mean a bigger payment later, a longer term or both. Compare the proposed arrangement with the existing schedule using the same interest and linkage assumptions. If rates are variable or the loan is index-linked, ask which figures are assumptions rather than guaranteed totals.
Leumi’s published simulations illustrate that principal-only and full deferral can produce different later payments and total costs, and that extending the term changes the comparison. Its examples assume a fixed, unlinked annual rate of 5%; they are simulations, not your mortgage quote or a currently available interest rate.
A simple arithmetic example shows why the repayment method matters. If three hypothetical monthly payments of ILS 5,000 are deferred, the postponed sum is ILS 15,000 before any additional costs. Spreading that sum evenly over 240 payments gives ILS 62.50 per payment; spreading it over 48 gives ILS 312.50. These are arithmetic divisions only. They exclude interest, linkage, fees and differences in the actual remaining schedule and do not establish an entitlement to either arrangement.
Ask whether a temporary reduction, term adjustment or another arrangement is available. If considering savings, another loan or family assistance, compare liquidity, tax, withdrawal charges, security and total cost. A new unsecured loan does not necessarily solve an ongoing affordability problem.
How to make an ordinary request
- Contact the mortgage lender through its verified official website, app, service centre or branch.
- Identify the loan accounts, reason, requested period and proposed restart date. Ask which documents and signatures are needed.
- Disclose existing arrears, pending legal steps and relevant sale or refinance plans; request the route appropriate to that situation.
- Review the written terms and revised schedule before consenting.
- Confirm approval, its effective date and what happens to the next scheduled debit. Continue required payments until the approved arrangement says otherwise.
- Check the account after implementation and again when regular payments resume.
A medical event, income interruption, parental leave, divorce or a gap between selling and buying may explain a request, but none automatically guarantees approval. Limits and notice periods depend on the contract, lender and any applicable scheme. Claims that every bank permits a fixed lifetime number of freezes or a year-long pause should not replace a check of your documents.
Mortgage porting, or grirat mashkanta, involves moving the security or continuing the financing under the lender’s conditions; it is not itself an automatic payment holiday. Refinancing is a further transaction with costs and approval requirements. See the refinancing guide before treating a temporary cash-flow arrangement as a substitute.
The 2026 Roaring Lion scheme: a dated example
The Bank of Israel’s April 2026 Roaring Lion framework stated an application deadline of 15 May 2026 for the extension covering people affected from 16 April 2026. The earlier group had an earlier application window. These dates have passed. The reviewed page does not establish an open November 2026 application window.
For the qualifying households described there, it provided three months’ mortgage-payment deferral without added interest or fees, covering first-home and upgrading borrowers, with a specified damaged sole rental-home category. Evacuation or hospitalisation evidence was required as applicable. Consumer-loan relief had a separate aggregate cap.
The bank chose among the mortgage repayment alternatives: adding payments at the end, spreading them through the remaining term, or a four-year interest-free loan for the deferred amount with repayment beginning after a year. This differs from an ordinary freeze and from a scheme where the borrower chooses. The page also directs customers outside its eligibility to ask their lender about ordinary terms. Obtain any applicable approval rather than reusing this historical scheme’s conditions.
Earlier war-related bank relief was not one permanent rule
The source material on Swords of Iron records a general bank-relief framework and more favourable terms for specified affected groups. It describes successive request windows and cumulative limits during 2023 to early 2025. An extension available in one quarter cannot be assumed to cover a new request today.
The distinction matters financially: the general framework described interest-bearing deferral without a fee, while some affected groups received interest-free treatment or bank-specific extra assistance. Consumer and business loans also had their own limits. A household mortgage, credit-card loan and business facility should therefore be checked separately.
For a historical account reconciliation, preserve the application date, the scheme version, eligibility evidence, lender approval and subsequent statements. Ask the bank to explain which relief was actually applied, how earlier deferrals count and which repayment method was selected. A general rights summary is not evidence that an individual account received a waiver.
Contractual deadline legislation is a different route
The retained rights material also describes emergency legislation for specified contractual obligations due during defined periods in late 2023 and early 2024. Its eligibility groups, exclusions, notice requirements and deferral calculations differ from the banks’ mortgage schemes. They should not be combined into a universal right to stop any mortgage or rent payment.
If a historical dispute depends on that law, have the actual statutory version and orders checked against the obligation’s due date, contract date, parties and notice given. Employment pay, maintenance, already-paid amounts and other excluded categories require particular attention. This guide does not certify a new current extension or quote an unverified statutory eligibility determination.
Hostage and missing-person families need the exact account and period checked
The retained family-rights source describes particular banking arrangements for first-degree relatives and the accounts of hostages or missing persons, alongside distinct statutory provisions for some jointly owed obligations. Some banks offered additional benefits. These are different bases of relief, not one automatic exemption from every debt.
Establish the relevant person’s status, relationship, account holder, obligation, request period and lender approval. Historical mortgage, household-loan and enforcement protections had different scopes and dates. Do not assume that a protection recorded for an earlier period indefinitely suspends collection today. A lawyer or the responsible authority should verify the operative protection where an enforcement step is threatened.
A proposed assistance law is not an enacted benefit
Government Decision 4043 of 31 March 2026 approved in principle a draft assistance law for housing borrowers affected by interest-rate increases. It authorised further ministerial work, required a budget-source decision before submission to the Knesset and sought an expedited legislative timetable.
That decision alone does not establish that a borrower has an enacted entitlement. Check the final legislation, commencement and implementing instructions before relying on a proposal, announcement or bill summary.
If you are already behind
Read every demand and record its deadline. Contact the lender and obtain legal advice early, particularly if an Execution Office warning or receiver is involved. Some relief frameworks exclude legal proceedings or limit what can be done with existing arrears. A new request does not prove that proceedings have paused.
See mortgage arrears and foreclosure procedures for the distinct enforcement stage. Keep the loan documents, arrears statement, notices, previous relief approvals and your current affordability information together.
The Bank of Israel’s reviewed framework lists Banking Supervision public enquiries at 02-6552680 or *9086, and the credit-data supervisor’s hotline at *6194. A complaint or information enquiry does not itself change a payment deadline or suspend enforcement.
What proves the arrangement is in place?
Look for written approval identifying the covered loans and dates, an understandable repayment schedule, the agreed cost and treatment of arrears, and account entries consistent with that approval. Check the first deferred debit and the first resumed payment. If the statement differs, raise the specific discrepancy with the lender using the approval and reference number.
The useful question is not merely whether the bank offers a freeze. It is what this arrangement changes on your loan, what it costs and whether the later payments remain affordable.
