Forbearance Plans - Get It In Writing!

Recently we got a call that happens all too often. Someone called us to see if we could help prevent their foreclosure the day before the auction was to be held! Needless to say, although we called the lender to see if they would postpone, they were too far along the track to turn back. The house was going to go to auction the next day and they would not stop it.

The unfortunate thing was that the homeowner in this case was trying to make the payments called for in a forbearance plan, but since they were quite a bit higher than their former regular mortgage payments (which they had gotten behind on), they were having trouble making the larger payments. It turns out the lender never put the terms of the forbearance plan in writing, so they just terminated the forbearance plan and went right to auction.

As we explain in our Consumer's Guide to the Foreclosure Process, often a Forbearance Plan is a lender's last-ditch attempt to get whatever cash they can from a borrower before they wind up foreclosing anyway. They know the statistics, that over 90% of the folks that enter into a forbearance plan NEVER MAKE THE SECOND PAYMENT! After all, if they couldn't make the original mortgage payment, how does the lender expect them to be able to afford what is usually a much higher forbearance payment to "catch up" the missed payments over a short period of time? The lenders know that most people can't.

So, if you're into a forbearance plan already and you don't have the terms in writing, make sure you get it in writing from the lender. If you're not in a forbearance plan or you are and still need to consider your other options before it's too late, you simply must get our Consumer's Guide to the Foreclosure Process. You can request it by calling our free educational message at 1-800-433-8563 extension 86186.