There are numerous ways that a hardship that is unforeseen can cause owning a home to go from joy to a burden. Perhaps your monthly mortgage payments have outstripped your budget, you have unexpected medical bills, you’ve lost your job, or have unexpected medical bills. Regardless of what the cause of your problems is ignoring them will only make matters worse. You need to act quickly in order to resolve the problems. 


Here are some examples of how to stop a foreclosure on your home:

1. Look for Other Sources: Many homeowners never realize that there are numerous resources that can help them make their mortgage payment in order to avoid foreclosure. There is the homeowner’s savings, disability and unemployment insurance as possible resources for cash. In addition, there are other ways to reduce the household budget by selling expensive items such as motorcycles, boats, and cars in order to raise cash. Although retirement funds may also be used, most people who access their funds in a retirement account will usually face increased income taxes and may be penalized withdrawing retirement funds early.  


2. Contact the Lender: It is time to talk to the lender if you are out of options of how to make that mortgage payment. This needs to be done as quickly as possible. The reason you need to contact your lender is to reach an agreement that ultimately will reduce the amount of your mortgage so that the foreclosure may be prevented prior to it getting started. 

3. Review the Options: After you have contacted the lender or service company, there might be other options that are available to you. Usually, a lender isn’t required to make adjustments to your loan, however, most will probably consider refinancing.

The possible options that you should discuss with the lender include:

• Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure: With this option, the lender can accept the return of the title to your home, however, you need to know that the lender may still report any uncollected finds that are lost to the IRS as taxable income and sue you for the loss. This option can also have other negative effects on your credit report.
  
  
• Claim Advance: Should you just happen to have a private mortgage lender, they will usually give you a cash advance to bring your mortgage payments current. Many times this is interest free money and doesn’t have to be repaid for years.
  
  
• Re-Amortization: With this option the mortgage payments you have missed are added to the balance of your loan, which will bring your account current. The total amount of your monthly payments and debt will increase unless the lender also agrees to extend the length of the loan.
  
  
• Short Sale: This option is considered one of the best available to stop a foreclosure and is increasingly popular. With this option, the lender agrees to accept less than what you owe on the property, which will potentially relieve you of the debt. Many lenders are frequently willing to accept a short sale since it greatly reduces the time and expense involved in a foreclosure proceeding. Usually, a short sale does a lot less significant damage to your credit than a foreclosure does. You should have a qualified real estate agent to help you complete the short sale process.

You should be careful about dealing with companies that claim to guarantee that they can stop a foreclosure regardless of what you owe. Recently, the Federal Trade Commission made up a list of warning signs that companies who claim to be able to fix foreclosures may be nothing more than a scheme. You should also be careful of companies who require you to pay for their services upfront. They may ask you to not to contact your lender directly, ask for your property deed, or ask you to send your mortgage payments directly to them.