In light of the declining economy, many people are facing losing their home because of job loss and other things that factor into the economy. There are, however, some things you can do to help ensure you don’t lose your home. 

Call your mortgage company right away. Or answer your phone when they call you. Talk to them. With the stimulus package, many mortgage companies are able to help out those in need and are willing to help. Tell them your situation. They may have you fill out some forms to send in with your proof of income and other bills, but it’s worth the little bit of time and effort it takes to fill those out quickly and get them back in the mail. Then a week after you’ve sent the papers in, call your mortgage lender to be sure they received the documents. 

Once they’ve received the documentation, they may ask some further questions and you may have to send in more documentation, but don’t let it discourage you. Show them you are willing to work with them and you want to keep your home; you simply cannot afford the payments right now. Be sure to use the words “I want to make my payments; I simply cannot at this time” when speaking with your lender.

Give your lender some time to process your hardship request, but if you haven’t heard from them in a week or so, give them a call again. 

Once your hardship request is processed, your lender should be calling to let you know a reduced amount you can pay for a short amount of time. Your mortgage payment could be reduced by almost $300 a month for a 4-month period. Every situation is different, but you may be pleasantly surprised by the help you can receive.

You do have to plan ahead for when the reduced rate period is up and you have to start making regular monthly payments again. Hopefully with the stimulus package jobs will start opening up again and the economy will be a little better. 

In the meantime, you may be able to refinance your mortgage to get a lower interest rate which will also lower your monthly payment. You will need to discuss this with your lender. Most experts recommend refinancing only if the interest rate is more than 1% lower than the current rate, but speak with your lender.

So, with a little planning, some effort and diligence, you can save your home from foreclosure.

Tags: Home, Mortgage, Savings

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 24th, 2009 at 22:21 and is filed under Home Savings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.