While millions of people continue to lose their homes, there are resources and strategies available such as a mortgage loan modification, that can help with foreclosure and prevent the worst case scenario. While the outrageous foreclosure statistics do not take into account the number of people who are purposefully losing their homes because they are upside down (their house was purchased for more than it is worth today), there are still millions of people being affected by the economy and not sure where to turn.
If, for any reason, you are having trouble making your mortgage payment, talk to your bank. The last thing they want to do is to go through the foreclosure process and take your home away from you. Banks are not in the real estate business, and they currently own millions of homes that were foreclosed on. For that reason alone, banks are willing to help with foreclosure and are can be flexible.
- Resource 1: Mortgage Loan Modification
A mortgage loan modification is simply the process of renegotiating your current contract with the bank. It can be a relatively quick and painless way to have your mortgage payments lowered by either reducing your interest rate or stretching your loan out an additional 10 years, for example. You can even negotiate to have the total amount you own on your home reduced.
In many cases, a homeowner may be unable to make their mortgage payment because they are facing temporary financial hardship and just needs a little relief. A mortgage loan modification can reduce those payments to a manageable level. See if you qualify for a mortgage loan modification.
When all else fails, you still don’t want to lose your house. Not only does that leave a major scar on your credit, but it could have very emotional consequences as well. Filing for bankruptcy is not particularly the best strategy either, since that can damage your credit just as bad. You may want to consider other debt-relief options though…
- Resource 2: Instant Debt Reduction
The same process of negotiating with your banks to lower your monthly mortgage payment can be applied to other debts you may be carrying. Credit card companies would rather negotiate your debts in order to get some money from you than nothing. Similarly, you can consolidate your bills in order to reduce your overall payment. The only danger here is that if you’ll have one bill a month rather than multiple bills — which is a benefit to many people. See if you qualify for debt reduction.
Before getting forced out of your home if you are having trouble making payments, try going the mortgage loan modification and debt reduction route to see if you are able to reduce your monthly overhead expenses and stay in your home.
10:04 am on July 9th, 2009 1
For most people facing foreclosure, reducing monthly payments is a temporary fix. If a person loses their job, and doesn’t get another for months and then after several months the job they find is at less pay, the person will find themselves struggling to make payments.
Currently, people who mortgaged a home during end of 2004 through end of 2006 are the unlucky who owe more on the mortgage and have put more into the pit than they will be able to retrieve. For these unlucky souls the choice is grim. A man may say, ‘I’m paying $1300 a month for my up-side-down mortgage. My neighbor is renting a bigger, better house for $900 per month and has no repair costs.’ What would motivate this guy to keep paying the $1300 per month? Used to be people would say that the higher cost is better because the house is an investment. However, that is no longer true when you’re up-side-down in a mortgage.