By Carolyn Langlois


You may be in danger of foreclosure if you fail to make payments on your mortgage loan on time. But you will definitely have a problem if you default on these payments. But don't give up just yet because foreclosure avoidance is still possible if you take the right steps.

None of the following options will be open to you unless you can get your lender to agree to work with you.

Check with your lender to see if you may qualify for a special forbearance. This allows your payments to be altered based on a change in your financial situation. Your lender may agree to this if you are able to prove that you can meet your new projected payments.

A second option may be to actually modify your current mortgage. In this scenario, you may refinance the amount owing including any arrears. The term of the mortgage may be extended as well in order to make new payments affordable for you.

You may be eligible for an interest free loan from the HUD agency in order to make your mortgage current, if you meet specific conditions. This may be referred to as a partial claim. Your lender can assist with the application process and should be willing to explain more about this type of loan. Or you can get in touch with your local HUD office for details.

You could consider a pre foreclosure sale of your house in order to avoid foreclosure. The goal is to sell your home in order to clear up as many of your debts as possible to avoid the damage that a foreclosure and delinquent bills would have on your credit.

If you're sure that you will be unable to make your mortgage payments even if they do get lowered, then a pre foreclosure sale may be something to consider. You will have to see if can get your lender to agree to give you some extra time to sell before they go ahead with foreclosing.

There is one final option to think about, and this should only be a last resort. It is called a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. With this you are essentially giving your house to your lender rather than paying off the mortgage.

Even though you'll lose your home this still may be a better option than losing it to the foreclosure process. The reason is that your chances of being able to obtain a mortgage loan in the future are a lot better than if your home is lost because of a foreclosure.

A final recommendation is to be sure to get in touch with your mortgage lender as soon as you begin to experience problems financially. If you do that, foreclosure avoidance is going to be much more possible because your lenders will work with you on finding the right option.




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