Alternative payment programs can help you avoid foreclosure

Are you having trouble making your mortgage payments? Do you think you could be facing foreclosure? There’s good news: We’re committed to helping you avoid foreclosure, and we promise to do everything we can to keep you in your home. We will work with you to find what option you qualify for with our various alternative payment programs. Take these steps to get started.

1. Call us right away.

At the first moment you think you may not be able to make a payment, call us. The idea that we want to foreclose on your property and take your home immediately is simply not true. That’s because the owner of your mortgage loan can make money only if you stay in your home and make your payments. We very much want to help you stay in your home, and we offer a range of payment programs that may enable you to continue making your payments—and avoid the hassle and heartache of foreclosure.

2. Be ready before you call.

Always have your loan number available. Have your most recent income statements on hand — including your most recent pay stubs and current benefit statements from Social Security, unemployment, disability, public assistance, or retirement plans. Make sure to have complete income records for every person named in your mortgage agreement. Next, write up a complete list of your normal monthly household expenses. If you’re self-employed, have your most recent tax return on hand (a year-to-date profit/loss statement also works). Finally, be prepared to explain the reasons for your financial hardship.

3. Go through our loss-mitigation review.

The process of working with you to understand your financial situation and identify the alternative payment programs you may be eligible for is called loss mitigation review. The purpose of the review is to find ways to reduce or mitigate the financial losses that both you and your lender will have to face if you stop making your payments.

Our loss mitigation review is made up of three phases:

• Initial review. It starts when you call our Customer Care Team at 800-365-7107. Please have all of the above-noted information on hand before you dial our number. When you call, we’ll assign a mortgage specialist to help you. That person will serve as your dedicated SPOC (single point of contact). We will learn about your financial situation and identify any alternative payment programs based on qualifications. Call anytime, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. or on Saturday from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. (all times are Eastern).
• Information gathering and review. If our initial review reveals that you qualify for any of our programs, we’ll need to get more information from you to continue our evaluation. Your SPOC will carefully explain all of the documents or other information we’ll need—and where to send everything after you collect it.
• Evaluation Notice. After we finish our review, we’ll mail the results to you in a letter; it’s called an Evaluation Notice. In that letter, we’ll describe every alternative payment program (if any) that you qualify for, and we’ll give you specific instructions about how to take advantage of them.

4. Understand your options.

The alternative payment programs we offer may be able to help you avoid foreclosure. Our mission is simple: We’ll do everything we can to help you stay in your home, and we’ll work closely with you to find a payment solution that meets your needs. Learn more about your options with this interactive video. 

This table compares our various programs and their benefits to you; the text that follows explains each program in more detail. After you review this information, be sure to ask your SPOC if you have any questions:

Repayment

If you can afford it, a repayment plan offers several great benefits:

• Enables you to resolve your delinquency.
• Permits you to spread your past-due payments over time.
• Does less damage to your credit score than a foreclosure.
• Avoids the expense and inconvenience of foreclosure.
• Enables you to stay in your home.

Under a repayment plan, you agree to pay your past-due amount over time. We’ll divide up your total past-due amount and spread it out over a certain number of months or years. We’ll then add a portion of that total amount to your regular mortgage payment. This will increase the amount of your payment during the repayment period. When you finish your repayment plan, your mortgage is considered current, and your payment reverts to its previous amount.

Forbearance

Under a forbearance plan, we suspend or reduce your regular mortgage payments for a specific period of time (usually for several months). After the forbearance period, the total unpaid amount is due. Your post-forbearance payment options may include:

• Deferment, where we move your outstanding payments to the end of your loan term (the most common option).
• Loan modification, which changes the terms of your mortgage to bring your account current with a new, more affordable regular payment (see below for more information).
• Repayment, which spreads your past-due amount over a set period of time and adds an extra amount to your regular mortgage payment until you pay back the past-due amount in full.
• Reinstatement, where you repay everything past due in one lump sum to immediately bring your account current.

Your SPOC will work with you to decide which post-forbearance payment option best meets your needs.

A forbearance plan offers you significant benefits, including:

• Giving you time to address your financial challenges and get back on your feet.
• Doing less damage to your credit score than a foreclosure.
• Staying in your home and avoiding foreclosure.

Loan modification

A loan modification (also called a “mod” or a “workout”) changes the original terms of your mortgage loan, such as your payment amount, the length of your loan term, and your interest rate. After we approve your modification, it typically starts with a brief trial-payment plan before permanently modifying your mortgage—to make sure you can afford the modified payment.

A loan modification can provide you with practical benefits, including:

• Reducing your mortgage payment to a more affordable amount.
• Doing less damage to your credit score than a foreclosure.
• Staying in your home and avoiding foreclosure.

Short sale

In a short sale, you agree to sell your property for less than the balance remaining on your mortgage principal. When the sale is complete, you move out. The potential benefits of a short sale include:

• Eliminating or reducing your mortgage debt.
• Receiving financial aid to help pay your relocation expenses (not available in every situation).
• Doing less damage to your credit score than a foreclosure.
• Avoiding foreclosure.

Deed-in-lieu

Under a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure plan (often called “deed-in-lieu” or “mortgage release”), you find another place to live—and you sign over the possession of your property to the company that owns your mortgage. In return, your mortgage owner releases you from your loan obligation. The benefits of a deed-in-lieu program include:

• Eliminating your mortgage debt.
• Receiving financial aid to help pay your relocation expenses (not available in every situation).
• Doing less damage to your credit score than a foreclosure.
• Avoiding foreclosure.

5. Don’t be discouraged.

Foreclosure is inconvenient, expensive, and stressful for everyone involved—and your lender wants to avoid it as much as you do. So please call us right away (800-365-7107) as soon as it looks like you can’t make your mortgage payment. We’ll do everything we can to help you avoid foreclosure. We’re available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. (all times are Eastern).