Assessing Your Foreclosure Options

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. It has been 60 days since I paid my last mortgage payment, the bank is calling and sending letters to my home, what can I do?

A. Call 311 for a Foreclosure Prevention Counselor in your area or fill out the free intake form, and a counselor will call to make an appointment. The sooner you call the faster you can receive help.

Call your mortgage company. Regardless of how many months you have not paid your mortgage, your mortgage servicer can still help you. Speak to a representative about the options that are still available to you.

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Q. I am no longer able to make my payments. What are my options?

A. Every situation is different. Contact a Foreclosure Prevention Counselor that will give you an assessment of what options are still available to you. Here are a few options:

• Modify your Mortgage. By extending your mortgage, your lender can place the payments that you currently owe at the end of your current mortgage. This will extend your mortgage, which can reduce your monthly payments.


• Repayment plan. You lender can allow you to add some amount of the past due payment you owe to your current monthly payments until your account is current.


• Forbearance. After a short delay in payment, another option will be in place with the understanding that another option will be used afterwards to bring the account current.


• Selling your Home. If no other option is feasible to your particular situation, the lender will put the foreclosure on hold in order to give the owner the option to sell the property.

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Q. Currently, I am not having mortgage trouble. What can I do to avoid any problems in paying my mortgage?

• Create a budget. Make a list of all of your monthly expenses. For each of your expenses, ask yourself if you can do without this expense for one month. For example, can you make coffee at home and nor spend $5 a day for you favorite morning cup of coffee? If you take that same money and save it for one month, you will have an additional $100 a month.


• Pay your bills on time. Always pay your bills that will sustain you and your family first. Bills such as your mortgage or rent, food, and utilities. Make sure that your bills are paid by the fifth of each month. This will strengthen you credit history and increase your credit score.
  
• If it sounds too good to be true, it just might be. Beware of and one who calls or seen you letters that promise to help you out of financial troubles. Only contact certified counselors, such as the ones at Know the Facts Bed-Stuy.