All is Not Lost for Troubled Homeowners

Many of our fellow citizens are finding themselves recently in this unenviable position: some financial trouble surfaced, the bills started falling behind, and the mortgage, typically the largest of the monthly bills, ended up being the hardest one to meet in a timely manner. Once this snowball begins its downhill run it can be extremely difficult to stop or even slow its prgressively increasing momentum.

Once your mortgage payment is past thirty days overdue, then most mortgage servicers will refuse to accept any payment less than the full amount due including any late fees. Here is where the miscommunication usually begins.

The mortgage company does NOT want to foreclose on your home! Though every piece of correspondence you receive from them may seem like further proof that they are “after your property”, it is actually the furthest thing from the truth. It is in everyones’ best interest, and most especially the mortgage servicer’s, that you get back on track and continue sending them their monthly payment. This payment is how they make their money.

Foreclosing on any property is an absolute loss for any mortgage company and the last action they want to take.

However, our laws are written in such a way that, once a mortgage note is past thirty days overdue, it is only at that point that the mortgage servicer can legally begin "pre-foreclosure" proceedings. It is very important to a mortgage servicer that, should a foreclosure become unavoidable, they have every option to expedite the long, drawn out process.

Again though, in accordance with the law of the land, should they accept less than a payment of less than the full amount due, then the “clock” stops and this can seriously delay the proceedings in the future which will result in even more cost to the investors.

So any discussion of the the nerve wracking situation of being behind on one’s mortgage must begin from this understanding.

So now what? The first, and most important thing to keep in mind is communication. The mortgage company does not want to take your home and you want to keep your home; you are on the same side.

However, if the payments are not being made, and the mortage company is not hearing from you, (sometimes peoples make the mistake of not even taking the mortgage company’s calls) then they have to assume that you no longer intend to make the payments or keep the home.

It is of the utmost importance that you speak with your servicer to let them know that this is not the case. Once they are aware that you have run into some problems but are making an effort to get back on track, then they will, in all likelihood, do their best to assist you.

One last note for this column and that is that you will probably be speaking with the collection or foreclosure department of the mortgage company. The employees that work in these departments are harrangued and screamed at for, let’s say, seven out of the eight hours of their work day.

You have to approach these individuals from this standpoint. They are not your enemy. Keep in mind that the person on the other end of the line could have just ended a telephonically communicated drubbing that would give many of us nightmares immediately prior to picking up your call.

So make sure that they understand right up front that you are not going to add to their stress, but maybe even give them a bright note in their day and try to work with them. You will be amazed at how just this little amount of effort to empathize with the person on the other end of the phone line can change the entire tone of your dealings with your mortgage servicer.

However, should you end up with one of those people who seem to come to work to take out their aggressions on the world, (we all know they’re out there) remain calm and politely ask to speak to their supervisor. You’ll get much farther by approaching it in this manner.

In my next column, I’ll start outlining the list of options that are available once you find yourself in this position. There are more than you may think.