Prevent Foreclosure - 5 Steps You Can Take Now

If you think you may be in danger of losing your home, it is never too soon to act. Every day that passes leaves you with fewer options. The best time to act is when you are still able to make your mortgage every month, when you still have a job, when you can still pay most of your bills every month. Researching the steps you can take to prevent foreclosure costs nothing, and it ensures you know everything you need to know in order to protect your home.

• Start contacting credit counselors. If you are jeopardising your ability to pay your mortgage by paying your credit cards, you are in serious trouble and you need to take action immediately. Unless you foresee winning the lottery or doubling your income in some other way, you need debt relief. Credit card counselors vary widely, so talk to a bunch before you make any committments.
• Start talking to loan modification companies. Though you will often hear people say that you should contact your bank directly to discuss loan modification, the truth is that banks behave better when negotiations are conducted by experience attorneys who can evaluate the legality and appropriateness of the loan documents you signed, and who know all the government agencies that can be called when a bank fails to live up to its obligations. Note that loan modification does not depend up on your credit rating. What matters is your ability to pay an adjusted mortgage.
• Start talking to bankruptcy professionals. Sometimes the right solution is to simply declare bankruptcy because most judges will allow a family to keep their home rather than pay unsecured debts like credit cards or hospital bills.
• Gather up all your bills, or contact all your creditors, and get the balance and minimum due amounts for all your debts. This kind of accounting seems painful sometimes, but you need to data so you can determine exactly which debts you can pay and which you can't.
• Take care of yourself and your family. The truth is that you can't afford to get ill, and you can't afford to let a financial storm overtaking the entire nation tear you apart. The numbers on your bills are just numbers, and the business professionals who offered you credit were taking a calculated risk. So concentrate on dealing as rationally, quickly and effectively as possible with your creditors rather than blaming yourself, or your family, for the troubles that have overtaken you.

Following these five steps, today, will put you in a much better position tomorrow. It is never too late to ask for help, but the sooner you ask the more help you are likely to get.