Write a Hardship Letter to Delay Foreclosure

In the current difficult economic situation, many homeowners have struggled to come up with the monthly mortgage payments required to regularly service their home mortgage agreement, and thus fall into financial difficulties, and even mortgage foreclosure issues. Losing your home to foreclosure is a painful and humiliating experience, and one should do whatever they can to avoid having to face this sticky situation.

There are many methods to avoid going into this foreclosure problem such as debt settlement programs, requesting government aid to help with payments, and some even consider bankruptcy as an option f things get out of hand. Nevertheless there is one simple yet effective option that has to be the first step that everyone that faces this issue takes before considering all the other available options. This solution is called the Hardship Letter.

One may ask, what is a “Hardship Letter”? Well, a Hardship Letter is a frank and honest letter that is written by homeowners that are in financial difficulties, addressed to the creditors or bank that holds the title to their homes to explain the difficulties that is currently being faced and requesting for extra time to sort out their financial issues. In return, the bank or financial institution would evaluate whether you are eligible for an extension based on their own set of criteria, and would allow you a certain period of extension for you to catch up with the due payments if they are satisfied with your Hardship Letter as well as all the supporting documents that you submit together with the letter.

For homeowners, you could either write the letters yourself, or hire someone else to write the letter for you. Sometimes a real estate agent could also draft out a decent Hardship Letter to help your cause, as he or she would have previous samples of Hardship Letters that could prove to be a guide for you. Nevertheless all the details within the letter are your very own responsibility if you are the homeowner and you have the responsibility to provide all the relevant information truthfully before a decent letter can be written.

Some of the information required includes your current financial situation, reasons of why you have been unable to service your mortgage payments, other loans that you currently have, and other relevant information.

When you are writing the letter, make sure that the letter is personal, and remember that it is meant to make your creditors understand that you are currently facing financial hardships, thus keep in mind that the letter is pretty much something that asks for financial mercy from the bank or financial institution.

Thus one should not be embarrassed to beg for time in order to be able to pay your outstanding amount in the near future. More often than ever, a moving Hardship Letter is more successful than a formal one, thus ensure that you can write well to be able to move your creditors into allowing you an extension to service your mortgage loan. You could also use a Hardship Letter to pursue a short sale, thus the creditors would be tempted to opt for this short sale option rather than push for foreclosure.

Stopping or avoiding foreclosure is possible with a well-drafted Hardship Letter. Take into account all the tips above to be able to write an effective Hardship Letter, and all the best in eliminating the chances of your home facing mortgage foreclosure.