Alternative Payment Plans to Help You Avoid Foreclosure

Contact us ASAP

As soon as you’re aware you might miss a payment, reach out to us for support. It’s critical that you contact us as early as you can so that we can help you before your situation gets worse. Sign into your account and click “Account Details” to go to your Dashboard, and then click “Chat Online” and provide your name and loan number to talk with one of our team members. From there, they can determine if a phone call with a member of our Loss Mitigation team is needed.

Prepare for your call

Before you call us, be sure to have:

1.       Your loan number

2.       Your most recent income statements, including any of the following that are applicable to you and anyone else named on your mortgage:

a.       Pay stubs

b.       Unemployment benefits

c.       Social Security

d.       Disability

e.       Public assistance

f.        Retirement plans

g.       If you’re self-employed: Your most recent tax return or a year-to-date profit/loss statement

3.       A list of your typical monthly household expenses

4.       Be prepared to explain your current financial situation and the problems that led to your past due payments.

Go through our loss mitigation review

“Loss mitigation” is our process for examining your financial situation and working with you to figure out which alternative payment strategy suits your situation best. The goal is to prevent you from losing your home and prevent both you and your lender from experiencing further monetary losses. This process consists of three phases:

1.       Initial Review

This phase begins when you contact our Customer Care Team through online chat, and they direct you to call us for further assistance. We’re available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Be sure to have the above-mentioned information ready before your call. Once you connect with us, we’ll assign a mortgage specialist to your case. This is your Single Point of Contact, or SPOC. They will learn about your situation, look over your finances and proceed with you to the next phase.

2.       Information Gathering and Review

If our initial review determines that you qualify for any of our alternative payment programs, we will deepen our evaluation by asking for more information from you. Your SPOC will explain all the information we will need and where to send it.

3.       Evaluation Notice

Once the review is completed, we’ll mail you an Evaluation Notice. This document details every alternative payment plan that you qualify for, if any, and instructions on how to start down the path of financial recovery.

Know your options

Depending on your circumstances, you could qualify for a repayment plan that enables you to stay in your home. Otherwise, there are repayment options that allow you to avoid the pain and expense of a foreclosure.

Alternative Payment Programs

Repayment

If you have the financial ability to repay your mortgage over a modified stretch of time, you can avoid the heartache of a foreclosure and do less damage to your credit score. In a repayment scenario, we’ll divide up what you owe and spread it out over a period of months or years. This will be in addition to your regular mortgage payment, so it will increase your payment during the repayment period. When you finish repaying your loan, your mortgage would then be considered current, and your monthly payment would return to what it was previously.

Loan Modification

This approach allows you to change the original terms of your mortgage loan, such as the amount to be paid, the term length, and/or your interest rate. In most instances, after the modification is approved, you will go through a short trial payment plan before the mortgage is permanently modified. This ensures you can afford the new payment. A loan modification can make your mortgage payment more affordable and allow you to stay in your home while minimizing damage to your credit.

Forbearance

Through a forbearance plan, your mortgage payments are suspended or reduced for a certain timeframe (typically several months). Following the forbearance period, you might qualify for either a repayment plan or a loan modification, as mentioned above. You could also qualify for a deferment so that the amount owed is moved to the end of your mortgage term. This is a very common option. You might otherwise qualify for a reinstatement, where you repay everything you owe in one lump payment, immediately bringing your account current.

Your unique circumstances will determine what repayment option makes the most sense. Forbearance gives you time to address any financial challenges you’re facing and does less damage to your credit than foreclosure. It also enables you to keep your home.

Short Sale

In this option, you sell your home for less than the remaining balance on your mortgage principal. While this option does require you to leave your home, it’s less damaging to your credit than a foreclosure and could allow you to buy another home much sooner. It also reduces—and sometimes eliminates—your mortgage debt. In some cases, you can receive financial aid to cover relocation costs.

Deed-In-Lieu

A deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure also requires you to give up your property while doing less damage to your credit than a foreclosure. In this scenario, you sign over possession of your property to the company that owns your mortgage. In exchange, the mortgage owner releases you from your loan obligation. You might be eligible to receive financial aid to cover relocation expenses.

Take the reins

Falling behind on your mortgage payment is stressful, but we want to help prevent the worst from happening. Foreclosure can make it extremely difficult to buy another home for years afterward. Message us through our online chat function, and together we can find a plan that minimizes damage to your credit and gets you back on track. We’re available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.(EST).