Despite your efforts to adjust your budget, earn extra income and sell belongings, you still cannot catch up with your mortgage payments. Could you qualify for a loss mitigation program?
The Federal Housing Finance Agency explores several programs that help homeowners experience financial relief. Explore your options and see if any sound like a good fit for your situation.
Forbearance plan
With a forbearance plan, you either temporarily eliminate your mortgage payments or make smaller payments for a predetermined period. In the meantime, you have breathing room to get your financial house in order. After forbearance ends, you may arrange a mortgage modification or repayment plan to catch up on missed payments. The plan may make a good option for borrowers experiencing temporary monetary setbacks.
Repayment plan
How do you like the sound of adding missed mortgage payments to your loan and spreading them out over several monthly payments? A repayment plan gives you time to bring your account current without enduring the hassle of cobbling together a lump sum to pay all at once.
Short sale
If you do not mind moving out of your current home if it means eliminating your mortgage struggles, look into a short sale. The way this loss mitigation option works is you voluntarily sell your home for less than your current mortgage value. A percentage of whatever proceeds you receive go toward paying off your home loan, but you may bear financial responsibility for any portion of the mortgage that remains. Depending on how things turn out, you may qualify for relocation assistance.
You do not have to feel stuck with mortgage woes. The right loss mitigation program may help.
