• A well prepared application form is vital
• Everything that you say, must be proved with documents
• You don’t need paid advice to make application

The Treasury Department in Washington introduced a program known as HAMP approximately 18 months ago that focuses on assisting embattled homeowners avoid foreclosure despite suffering financial hardship. The first step towards potentially benefiting from HAMP is to qualify for a modified loan in terms of Treasury Department guidelines.

Here’s how it works:

The output of a re-negotiated mortgage is a new, affordable repayment plan that helps you keep your home. This is referred to as a loan modification. Other benefits that you might also possibly qualify for include:

• Avoidance of foreclosure costs.
• Changing your mortgage conditions
• Extending the period of your mortgage loan.
• Reduction in interest rates.
• Forgiveness of late payment penalties.

None of these benefits are available to an American mortgaged owner homeowner who has not yet proven, or who has failed to prove compliance under HAMP.

Here are some hot tips to help you get there:

• Firstly, you must be able to prove genuine financial hardship. You have to write a letter explaining your financial predicament, and what you have tried to do about it yourself. If you haven’t already sold off your timeshares, traded in your fur coat and cancelled the order for a new car, then you probably won’t even get past first base.
• You also have to provide documents to prove what you say. This includes pay slips (or recent tax returns), a schedule of debt repayments, details of property owned, etc. If a recent medical condition in the family caused your problem, then copies of medical bills would also be required. And so on.
• The application form is the key to the whole process, because this is what the clerk will look at first. First impressions are everything. A half completed untidy application form that is difficult to read will most certainly not favor your application, so take your time here, and follow the guidelines carefully.
• You must be able to prove everything that you say. This means evidence of current debt (recent statements) and other proofs of financial hardship. If you were retrenched, provide a letter. If you partner died, I’m afraid they will want a death certificate too. Some crooks try to beat the system – that’s why honest folks like you and me have to walk that extra mile.
• Whatever other folks may say, you don’t have to ask anybody to help you with your application. If in doubt, speak to your local housing office. You don’t need a lawyer, or anybody else who asks for a down payment in advance.

The following information is provided by www.foreclosuredatabank.com as a public service. In case you’re interested, they list foreclosed property too.

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Written by Alex Rolim.