Millions of homeowners across the United States are dealing with increasing mortgage payments due to adjusting interest rates on their mortgages, declining home values and mortgage balances greater than their homes' values. One way of saving your home from foreclosure if you find yourself in this situation is to do a mortgage loan modification program with your mortgage company. Part of the loan modification request that you will make from your lender is a financial hardship letter.
What To Write A Loan Modifcation Financial Hardship Letter - Some Tips
A good financial hardship letter will explain what happened to you that put you in your situation. You want to keep your letter relatively short. Offer your explanation early into your letter and then if you have to explain more do that in later paragraphs. Your mortgage company is busy so they don't want to sit down to read a 14 page explanation about why you have fallen behind on your mortgage payments. You should be able to explain your situation in a few pages.
Remember that there is a human being reading your letter at the mortgage company so take the opportunity to make your letter as personal as you can - but don't go overboard. Let them know about your family, and why you love your home and why you want to keep it.
Don't forget to state your request whether it is a loan forbearance, a workout plan, a loan modification or a short sale. You want to leave the reader clear about what you want to see happen. But don't be unrealistic. Asking for a complete dismissal of your mortgage would most likely get your file thrown in the trash.
When writing your financial hardship letter, you will want to spell out the hardship. Simply stating that you are suffering from financial difficulties would not be enough information to help your case. Some examples of financial hardship include: loss of a job, cutback of hours at a job, a death of a family member - especially a spouse or a contributing member to the household budget, or a serious illness.
Make sure that you explain have recovered to the point of being able to make a timely mortgage payment again. The last thing your mortgage company wants to spend time doing is negotiating a loan modification with someone who can't make a payment.
What Not To Write In A Hardship Letter
A bad financial hardship letter will blame your mortgage company. The last thing you want to do is blame your mortgage company. Rarely is it a mortgage company's fault that a homeowner is facing foreclosure. You don't want to tell the mortgage company about all the bad service you have received, or the lack of help you have gotten that has led you into your situation. It is better to be humble and thankful for their consideration of your request. Remember, they don't have to give you a loan modification on your mortgage if they do not want to.
To find out if a loan modification program is an option for you, please complete the form below and we'll connect you to one of our loss mitigation experts.
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