Friday, December 19, 2008

Stopping Foreclosure Through Lender Mediation

By Tomasheus Privetsky

You've had more than your share of difficulties in the last few months. You've lost a loved one or been through a difficult divorce. You've lost a job or had to change jobs. You've lost your health and have medical expenses stacking up. Maybe you're struggling with increased utility prices or fuel expenses or an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) that is unbearable. Perhaps, your property tax bill has gone through the roof.

While you're trying to think of how to stop foreclosure on your home, you're getting near constant calls, letters and knocks on your door from foreclosure investors.

These foreclosure investors specialize in chasing homeowners just like you who are close to losing their homes. They're interested in buying your home and profiting from it, because they believe you must sell the home.

Is it a good idea to sell your home to these investors to prevent a foreclosure? This depends, it should not be your first choice though; before selling to one of these investors, you should investigate other options like rearranging your loan first.

You Can Stop Foreclosure Through A Workout Of Your Loan

If you have missed a few payments, your credit score will drop dramatically; once this data is on your credit report, it will be difficult if not impossible to get a new loan to refinance your existing mortgage.

However, mortgage lenders would really rather not end up owning your home; this is why every mortgage lender has a loss mitigation department which tries to work with homeowners who are in default on their mortgages to bring them back onto a timely payment schedule. Unlike refinancing your mortgage with a new loan, this loss mitigation process does not require getting a credit approval, putting this alternative within reach for homeowners who are in default.

A Repayment Plan May Still Be Challenging

The loss mitigation departments at mortgage lenders tend to be understaffed, especially right now with mortgage defaults on the rise. The employees in these departments do their best but have very little time to devote to each homeowner's case file. This means that lenders tend to offer you a standard repayment plan which may not meet your needs, for example, the monthly payments will likely be too high for your budget and the time limit given to get back on track far too short.

Because you're between a rock and a hard place you're tempted to take it to keep your home from being foreclosed on. In reality you just set yourself up for a failure. A few months down the stretch, you'll be back in foreclosure again.

Watch Out When Hiring Workout Professionals To Stop Foreclosure

One of the simplest, yet little known ways to get a lot better outcome through the Loss Mitigation process is to hire an experienced professional to do the work for you. These are companies that have experience of negotiating literally thousands of workout cases for owners in default. Some have established working relationships with the Loss Mitigation departments of many mortgage lenders nationwide.

Firms like these will take a thorough look at your finances and develop a repayment plan, which will meet your budget in order to allow you to successfully get back on track with your payments. These professionals have the inside track on the repayment programs, which may be available from different lenders, they may even be able to negotiate a lower interest rate to help you reduce your payments.

You may think that these services will be too expensive, given your financial difficulties; however, most of these services charge a low flat fee, usually about a months payment. With the money and time these negotiations can save you, they usually more than pay for themselves? They can often even negotiate a deferral of your next payment.

How to Cut Your Losses if Loss Mitigation is Not in Your Plans

If the lender mediation process won't work for you, then you will need to sell your home to keep from having a foreclosure record on your credit report. If there is enough time before foreclosure, you best bet is to list your home with a realtor, this will let you get a better price for your home. If your foreclosure is imminent, however, you may have no alternative but to sell to an investor. These companies can buy your home quickly, just make sure that they have the means to close the deal quickly, before your home goes into foreclosure. - 15224

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