What to do when those mortgage payments get hard to make

Filed in archive becoming a better borrower on August 6, 2009

It can happen for a host of reasons. Maybe you've lost your job. Maybe your employer has cut back your hours. Maybe you're going through a serious injury. You might even be struggling through a messy divorce.

All of these can cause you to miss a mortgage payment. Or more.

You wouldn't be alone. A growing number of homeowners today are struggling to pay their monthly mortgage payments. It's hardly a surprise. The nation's unemployment rate is near 10 percent. An increasing number of workers are being forced to take unpaid days off. Those mortgage payments are a lot more difficult to make when your monthly income is slashed. It's why the United States is seeing a record number of housing foreclosures today.

But what should you do if you fear you might soon fall behind on your mortgage payments? What if you've already fallen behind?

Your best bet is to call your mortgage loan officer. Immediately.

Your mortgage company doesn't want you to lose your house. It certainly doesn't want to try to unload a home in today's struggling economy. The odds are that your mortgage lender will work with you to find a solution. This might mean a grace period during which you won't have to pay your mortgage bill. Or it might mean a complete reworking of your mortgage loan.

Mortgage companies are under pressure today to work out such solutions. Pres. Barack Obama and his administration are pushing their foreclosure-prevention plan, which recommends that mortgage lenders use loan modifications to keep homeowners from losing their residences to foreclosures.

Of course, the program isn't working perfectly. Government programs rarely do. There is some criticism, warranted, that mortgage lenders aren't moving quickly enough to keep people from losing their homes. The rate of housing foreclosures, unfortunately, is far outpacing that of new loan modifications.

Still, if you find yourself struggling to make your mortgage payment each month, you have to call your lender. It's your best bet for saving your home.