Are you upside down with your mortgage? Talk to your lender.

If you are in trouble with your mortgage, there are several sites on the internet that are helpful.

To request help with your mortgage from your lender, you may qualify if you have some form of hardship.  You will need to fill out a form called Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac form 710.  You may find this form at:  http://www.freddiemac.com/sell/single/service/docs/form710.pdf

Your lender looks at the request and categorizes you into one of 2 categories:  Has Hardship or Has NO Hardship.

HARDSHIP IS:

• Unemployment
• Loss of hours
• Under-employed
• 50+ mile job relocation
• Business Failure
• Illness and Medical costs
• Health Insurance Increases
• Divorce or death of a spouse
• Increase in mortgage payment
• Natural disasters

HARDSHIP IS NOT:

• Loss of equity
• Wanting to re-size
• Increased family size
• Excessive discretionary spending

If you establish you have a hardship your lender will help you decide which option is best for you.  You may:

• Refinance
• Lender workout
• Sell and bring cash to closing
• Short sale
• Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure
• Foreclosure

For people living in Georgia who have lost their employment,  Georgia has a program to help.  The details can be found at www.homesafegeorgia.com .

Due to previous abuses by the lenders in the past, such as robo-signing, improper documentation and lost paperwork, in March 2012, the federal govenment released details of the $25 billion dollar National Mortgage Settlement stemming from improper foreclosures and other deceptive practices in the origination and servicing of mortgages.

The agreement with Bank of America Corp, JP Morgan Chase & Co.,Wells Fargo & Company, Citigroup Inc., and Ally Financial Inc. (formerly GMAC) is designed to provide eligible homeowners with relief as well as prevent future abuses.

More information on this can be found at the governments Making Home Affordable at http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/programs/exit-gracefully/Pages/hafa.aspx.