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Entry bubble Facing Foreclosure? Find Help Now!

By: Editor | June 22, 2009 | Category: Money

Wendy Wagner is the staff editor and speechwriter for the Federal Housing Finance Agency. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a professional writer and editor. 

A few days ago, a neighbor mentioned that another neighbor was trying to avoid losing his home. His wife had been laid off from her job in March, and the couple was afraid they would end up in foreclosure.

I was glad to be able to tell my neighbor how to access programs to help them avoid foreclosure. And it occurred to me that lots of people are probably in the same boat. If you are facing foreclosure or worry that soon you might be, take these steps immediately to try to prevent losing your home:

First, call the company that services your loan—the place where you send your monthly mortgage payment. Check your mortgage payment book or monthly statement to verify which bank or mortgage company it is. Call and talk to someone about your situation and find out what options you have. Believe it or not, the servicers usually want to help rather than have someone lose their home. Sometimes they can offer immediate solutions or give you a referral to find help. The sooner you begin working with the servicer, the more likely you are to avoid foreclosure in the long run.

Next, find out if you are eligible for the new Making Home Affordable programs—you have to live in the mortgaged home, and the mortgage must be owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, although several major loan servicing companies have signed up to participate in the program for nonFannie/Freddie loans. To find out if you are eligible, visit www.makinghomeaffordable.gov. The site is simple and set up to help you quickly find answers to your questions.

Another source of information and assistance is the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD offers foreclosure avoidance counseling and has a complete list of approved counseling centers across the country. HUD also has a comprehensive information page with numerous resources and suggestions.

If you have even a slight worry that you could lose your home, there are programs out there that can help you head off the trouble early. Don’t wait to seek them out and get started.

| View Comments [7] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: editor   foreclosure   house   hud   mortgage  

Comments (7):

blue comment bubble Posted by Guru on June 22, 2009 at 08:43 AM EDT

Good article. The thing that bothers me is no-one has went to jail for the fraud. Some people made a lot of money, on the back of the the working class. Many people are now homeless and unemployed, because they were victims of this fraud.

Also another tip is: If there is nothing left to do, go to court and fight, demand that the servicer show proof that they can kick you out into the streets. No-one is sure who owns what, and people are winning the cases because the servicer doesn't have all the paperwork.

My house loan has been traded or sold three times, I am very doubtful any of that paperwork could be found.

Since the housing market allowed this to happen, making them 'show the note' is only reasonable.

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blue comment bubble Posted by William C Holt on June 24, 2009 at 01:19 AM EDT

Under asset backed pass-through series 2004-R6 2004 without recourse,I didn't get a bill on my mortgage since 6/06. Correct,I called CITI who had my loan,who sold it to ameriquest,who sold it to american home,none could be contacted.If you say yea right, I'm not lying and I have been burned.After trying to contact CITI 50 times,no responce,I wasn't sure what to do.I am severly bipolar and have been under a state doctors care for years.The law reads that a mental handicap is not a legal issue in foreclosure.Not a legal issue,when does it become a Miranda

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blue comment bubble Posted by sweethur on June 24, 2009 at 03:42 AM EDT

We can't get any help. This is a shame, our loan is a FHA and our lender said that FHA loans are not in the "help for homeowners package" We are not behind on the payments, but are on unemployment. Our loan is 165,000 but the house will sell for 120,000 if we can sell it. What can we do?

We lost 20,000 in our 401K. I don't think we can take much more. We have done nothing wrong. We are hard working American's who live in *gulp* Michigan. There are no jobs and 5 houses out of 20 on our street are sitting empty.

We can't even sell on a short sale. I guess we will stay here as long as we can. And then the bank will have to take it back. We will be homeless at age 50.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Tammy on June 28, 2009 at 01:30 AM EDT

About 3 years ago my husband was talked into refinanancing with HSBC Banking for our house, since then our payments or way more than we can afford and the interrest rate is more than they told us it was going to be. Our credit is now wrecked and we can't even refinance in hope for homeowners. I also found out yesterday that because we are in a morgate mod. that it is showing up as a negitive on our credit. Just what are we to do? We have been with out gas in our house for over a year and other payments have fallen behind, will things ever get better?

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blue comment bubble Posted by Unknown on June 30, 2009 at 07:40 PM EDT

I feel that I may eventually my home due to a mortgage that amortizes. I was never really explained in full how this mortgage works, and even a customer service rep from Indymac said it sounded like I was misinformed. When I emailed Indymac, they tell me to call their customer service dept. When I did call, the rep had no idea what to advise me. So, I feel it is not true that your bank will help. I hope to get myself out of this, but I don't see this happening within the near future

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blue comment bubble Posted by Chris Bennettt on July 01, 2009 at 02:40 PM EDT

Foreclosures Good Investment Or Not?

Adverts would have us believe that foreclosure profits are easily made, but is this, the real deal. Obvious appeal of course would be that you will be buying property well below the market value and you should on the face of it make a hefty profit. A property bought well below the market value should indeed make a great profit. The question to ask yourself is this, if the buying of a property in foreclosure recently, is a purchase of a property below the current, Fair Market Value.

Wherever you are buying this foreclosure property, it will be in the same market place as other similar properties that are not, subject to foreclosure. So are these foreclosure property owners willing to sell for less than other sellers? of course they are not.

Foreclosure investment may be a great looking opportunity but there are other investments that make more sense. Why not invest in virtual real estate there is certainly less risk and a good profit can also be made. To find out more take a look at simrealestategame.com. www.simrealestategame.com

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blue comment bubble Posted by Jill on August 19, 2009 at 08:38 PM EDT

Another thing that you need to keep in mind about the foreclosure process is that you have to be persistent in following up with your lender. They are busy and you need to be the one to keep at them.

There are a lot of free foreclosure resources out there for homeowners. You just need to look for good advice. Help from a homeowner who was able to stop mortgage foreclosure is at www.stopping-home-foreclosure.com

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