Hello everyone, it's been awhile since I've posted anything and to be honest I'm needing my ActiveRain fix.

I wanted to share something with you concerning promissory note requests by lenders as a means to facilitate a short sale. It is becoming more frequent that lenders, mostly in junior position but not always, want a sizable note signed before they will release their lien. Sometimes it reasonable and advantagous to the debtor to take that route, but when the debtor is truely insolvent and has faced a real hardship what do you do?

We had a client with a loan through HSBC who is known for being tough. They insisted on a $54,000 note from the client before they would approve the deal. A lot of people would just sign it with no intention of ever paying it (which I don't advocate) but these folks just couldn't do it. I wrote a letter to the mitigator and her supervisor explaining the true hardship and that these folks wanted to do the right thing, and by signing a note they know they can't afford would be wrong. I asked them to please forgive the debt and allow these people to move on. HSBC responeded with a new approval letter stating it was a full satisfaction with zero balance due.

The moral of this story is to always ask for what you want, and do it in writing so that the people on the other end can have time to digest it. Many times trying to verbally get something like this accomplished is futile. Alway do it in writing and never give up.

Wayne