Alternatives to the Home Affordable Refinance and Loan Modification Options.

The Home Affordable refinance and modification options are designed specifically to allow existing homeowners to keep their homes by making mortgage payments affordable. The plan will not help everyone. For example, it will not help investor borrowers or borrowers who have no income and cannot make any mortgage payment.

If you do not qualify for a Home Affordable Refinance or Modification, your mortgage servicer or HUD-approved housing counselor may have other options that are available to you. 

These options may include:

•FORBEARANCE:
The “forbearance” agreement means that you pay only a portion of your regular payment or no payment at all for a specific period of time based on your current financial status. At the end of the forbearance period, you will begin making regular payments as well as an additional amount to pay off the past-due amount.

•REPAYMENT PLAN:
If you have missed some of your monthly payments, your mortgage servicer may be able to help you catch up by creating a schedule for repaying the past-due amounts.

In some cases, you may need to sell your home and move to more affordable housing.

Call your mortgage servicer or a HUD-approved housing counselor to discuss:

•SHORT SALE:
If you cannot sell your home for an amount that will pay off the mortgage loan, talk to your mortgage servicer about a pre-foreclosure or “short” sale. The mortgage servicer may be willing to accept a payoff amount less than what you owe on the mortgage balance in certain situations.  If you would like to explore this option, contact me (Susan Hopper) and I will help you get started.

•DEED-IN-LIEU OF FORECLOSURE:
If you cannot sell your home in a reasonable amount of time, your mortgage servicer may agree to have you voluntarily transfer the deed to the property to them to help avoid the impact of a foreclosure on your credit rating.