If you are confident about your ability to write well and to explain your hardship in a coherent fashion, perhaps all you need is a hardship letter template.

We have been writing these letters for over 3 years and in that time, we have experimented with many formats.  About a 18 months into this project, we discovered that we got the most positive results when we laid out the situation in a very clear fashion for the mortgage company employee to understand thing very easily.

Since we invested so much time and money in developing our expertise in this area, we do not give our hardship letter template away for free.  However, we provide an ebook, for a very inexpensive price, which contains hardship letters that have already been approved by lenders.  This ebook will allow you to not only get our best effort at explaining a myriad of situations to lenders, but also, you will be able to see our template so that you can use it for yourself.

Go to this site to get this ebook:  www.SampleHardshipLetter.net

And, if you want help with your letter, instead of writing it yourself, let us know!

One of the big mistakes people make when they write their hardship letter is that they are not clear about what they want.  They know that things aren’t working, but they want their lender to tell them what to do.

Imagine this:  You go into a crowded store and you wait and wait and wait for a sales person to help you.  Finally, someone frees up and they come to you and ask you how they can help you.  You say, “I don’t know  What do think I need?”

Here’s what happens in this scenario:  That sales person will talk to you for a short while and explore your needs with you a bit.  But, if someone else comes along with a clear and definite request, the sales person will run off to help them, rather than continuing a vague discussion with you.  Their message:  “Come back when you know what you want.”

This is the reason that you need to know what you want when you write your hardship letter.  Just like a salesperson in a very busy store (think Apple stores), the people who get helped the quickest are the ones who know what they want.

We have a free report (top right of the site) that will help you figure out what you want in order to avoid foreclosure.  Download that report.  Read it.  Ask us questions, too.  We’re here to help you figure out the best path for you.

I’ve been writing hardship letters for customers for over 3 years now, and one thing that hasn’t changed is this:

Each week I get contacted by at least one person who is educated, and is basically a fine writer, but when they get to having to write their own letter, they feel very confused.

Who wouldn’t?  Even after writing about 500 of these darned letters, I’d probably have a hard time with my own letter!  Let’s just face it:  Hardship letter writing is hard for most of us!

This is why we offer this service.

Of course, we do write many letters for folks for whom English is a second language or for those who feel they don’t have good grammar, spelling, etc.

In any case, we know what to look for.  We know how to transpose your thoughts and explanations in to a letter that is coherent, of high quality and that is easy for your loan modification specialist to understand and act on.

So, quit beating yourself up for not having it done.  Simply order your letter and lets get the show on the road!

Becky

I had a strange experience recently.  A person contacted me to talk about her situation because she had been declined by Bank of America for a loan modification.

Her numbers were a little tight, yes.  So, I referred her to the one source that I know can help people who have more extreme situations….  and that organization is NACA, and it is a non-proft.

I am not affiliated with NACA in any way, and I have no financial interest in recommending them.  I simply refer people to them because I they have helped several of my clients who had already been turned down get what they call “restructured loans”.  Several very, very tough cases were handled by NACA.  In fact, my sense was that the customers should have just foreclosed, because their situations seems a bit hopeless.

In any case, I referred this woman to Naca, recently.  NACA began working with her.  However, when they asked her to submit some paperwork through their online submission process, and she said she was just going to give up!

The reason?  She didn’t feel comfortable having her person information in their system!   She would rather lose her home than possibly risk some loss of privacy?  Wow.

Now, I think that really what happened is that she just got tired and scared.  She didn’t want to work it anymore.

I see it again and again.  There are so many more people that can be helped who just give up.  Don’t do it!  When you have someone who will help you that has a track record of success, find the energy somewhere to keep at it.  The people who are persistent are the ones who are keeping their homes!

Often, my customers ask me to write a hardship letter for a short sale for them because they have relocated to another city and no longer live in the home in question.

It’s amazing how many people don’t clearly explain why they moved, even though there are usually very good reasons.  You can’t assume that, with no explanation, your lender will think your move was a great idea!  So, make sure that you clearly explain it.

Here are some common reasons:

• You were laid off and had to take a job in another city
• Your job was insecure, so in order to avoid being laid off, you found another job
• Your job was moved to another city and you had to move to avoid losing it
• You moved to take a promotion with your company
• You changed fields and needed to move to get a job in your field
• Your parent or other family member was ill and you needed to take care of them
• You divorced and your spouse moved, so you moved to be near your child(ren)
• etc.

I’m sure that you would agree that all of these explanations sound very reasonable.  Your lender will, too.

Just don’t forget to explain your situation fully!

And of course, as always, we are very happy to write your hardship letter for a short sale for you!

We often write mortgage hardship letters for people who feel that their mortgage company:

• should have never approved them for a loan in the first place
• gave them a fraudulent loan
• was misleading or dishonest in some way

Many of these folks have already hired attorneys to pursue justice, often to no avail, and this has only made them feel more victimized.

Addressing this situation in a hardship letter is tricky.  A hardship letter, by its nature, is explaining hardship, but also asking for something — either a loan modification/restructuring, approval for a short sale, or a deed in lieu.

My advice is to keep the hardship letter and the legal situation separate.  Deal with the request, now.  Write the best letter you can (or have us do it on your behalf) with the only goal being to

• get a modification that will allow you to stay in your home
• get approval for a short sale so you can get out without killing your credit
• get a deed in lieu so that the mortgage company takes your house and forgives you your debt.

Later, once you’ve got what you want, if you still want to, pursue legal action.

But don’t make the tone of your hardship letter accusatory, and include paragraph after paragraph telling them how they’ve mis-treated you.  Using words like “fraud” won’t help you.  You are asking them to help you and your chances of getting help from someone you’ve put on the defensive is very small.

My two cents…

One of the questions we have when writing your loan modification hardship letter is:

What payment do you feel that you can afford?

The reason we ask this is that we want to give the lender the sense that you have thought through your problems, and that you have a proposed solution.

Many people ask me…

• What is reasonable to ask for?
• Could I ask for them to cut my payment in half?

The answer to that is, “It depends.”

Many mortgage payments are indeed cut in half, if the numbers are justified.

In order to get a better feel for what is possible, keep in mind that the HAMP program is shooting for giving you a mortgage payment that is 31% of your gross pay.  This payment reduction calculator can help you see what your payment could be, if approved

NACA used to make more headlines than they do today, but they are definitely still at it, and the organization is a great resource for foreclosure prevention.

This weekend, many homeowners are seeking NACA help in Atlanta.

You will still need a hardship letter, and we’ve written many for those working with NACA.  NACA hardship letters are really no different than others, but what you get in working with them is for someone to go to bat for you in negotiating with your lender.

NACA doesn’t use the term “loan modification” for what they do.  They call it “loan restructuring”.  The end result is the same in that they can get your payments to decrease substantially and they can help keep you in your home.

See them at naca.com.

This week we wrote a loan modification hardship letter for a client, but also wrote letters to his state Senators and a US representative appealing for assistance in talking to his lender.

We explained his situation and appealed for their support, mainly because he is an employer, and if he loses his home and business, then that will affect many other people in his area.

Whether or not he will get assistance from his local politicians, I do not know.  But I will update this blog when we see how it plays out.

Has anyone else appealed to their elected officials for assistance with their mortgage company negotiations?  If so, please let us know if it was helpful or not by commenting below.

Thanks and stay tuned…

We wrote a hardship letter for a loan modification client this week and his story reminded me of so many stories I’ve heard over the last couple of years.

He applied for a loan modification, and while his mortgage company was taking their time in getting to his paperwork, he continued to make payments.  Of course, like many, he felt that he needed to keep current to stay in the good graces of his mortgage company.  He hoped that if he showed commitment and responsibility, this would increase his chances of getting approved.

Well, a YEAR after he applied, he got turned down.  They said that they didn’t understand his self-employment P&L.  And in that year, he depleted his little savings by over $50,000 in house payments.

(The good news is that he appealed it and they are willing to let his resubmit — thus, the hardship letter written by us.)

I do think that if you turn in your paperwork and you can hang on for a couple of months while your lender is reviewing your situation, you’ll be better off.  However, if waiting for them is putting you in a precarious situation, I would suggest that you quit making your payments.

Ask yourself:  What will happen if they turn me down and foreclose on me anyway?  Will I have any of my savings left?

If the answer is No, then STOP MAKING YOUR PAYMENTS!  You may be surprised at how that will get them to pay attention much faster and quit draining your savings at the same time!