If you or someone you is having trouble making mortgage payments, the best advice I can give is to get your mortgage lender on the phone. Do not wait until late payments begin. Call while payments are still being made on time. DO NOT EXPECT THE LENDERS TO INITIATE A CALL - they have too many loans to deal with so the SQUEEKY WHEEL gets the attention. DO NOT EXPECT LAW MAKERS TO FIX THE PROBLEM. It will probably be too late and if you ignore the problem you may not be someone that they feel is worthy of helping.
Keep a conversation log of when you talk to your lender, who you talked to, what was offered or discussed, what actions were agreed to and let them know you are taking notes so you don't forget (not because you want to catch them is they are lying). If you have trouble getting through to the lender, contact your mortgage broker to see if they have anyone else you can call to work things out. If you did not use a mortgage broker, good luck. Most lenders keep a compute conversation log but you need to keep one as well because you will probably talk to a new person each time and want to confirm that your last conversation was correctly recorded by both sides. If this seems like a lot of effort, it will be worth it. The following section was an excerp from an artilce By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer September 20 2007: 1:22 PM EDT
<<<At a House Financial Services Committee hearing Thursday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told lawmakers they can send troubled homeowners one simple but urgent message: "Call your lender or mortgage counselor today."
He noted that 50 percent of foreclosures occur without borrowers ever talking to their lenders, and said that he has gotten reports that lenders have tried to reach distressed borrowers to work out more affordable loan terms. "Yet those calls rarely get returned," he said.>>>
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