Legal Solutions for You,
Your Family & Your Business

Negotiate a Workout

If you want to keep your house, your best approach is to start negotiating with your mortgage servicer as quickly as you can. You may be able to get:

• temporary relief from having to make your monthly payments (forbearance)
• a plan to make up your missed payments (at the end of your mortgage or on top of your current payments within a specified period of time)
• a lower interest rate—and as a result, lower monthly payments, or
• a reduction in your principal loan balance.

You can negotiate directly or through a nonprofit housing counseling agency. It’s always worth calling one of the nonprofit agencies—the counselors there will help you, for free, explore possible remedies and negotiate a workout with your lender. (Ch. 4 explains how to find a nonprofit housing counseling agency and how it can help you.)

You may have even more workout options available to you if your loan is owned, insured, or guaranteed by a government agency or a government-chartered company such as Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Federal Housing Administration, HUD, VA, or the Rural Housing Service.