The Saddest Truth About Foreclosure

Foreclosure is a sad thing. It causes economies to falter. It causes people to lose their homes. It causes families to be destroyed. The affects of foreclosure on a society can damage the lives of millions of people. Foreclosure leaves a path of destruction in its wake. It leaves widows homeless. It leaves families divided. It leaves homeowners in shame.
The tragedies that accompany foreclosure are almost incalculable, but what if there was something worse? What if someone had the power or knowledge to help a homeowner but did not? What if the broken families could have stayed together? What if the widow could have kept their home?
Sadly, this is the situation we are currently facing in America. Mortgage companies have specific departments dedicated to helping homeowners in foreclosure. These departments focus specifically on homeowners who have encountered financial hardship and need assistance from the mortgage company. Every month, these departments help a certain amount of homeowners, and yet thousands of homeowners still lose their homes every day.
The answer is very simple. The mortgage companies do not have the resources to help a significant amount of homeowners. Key departments in the mortgage companies are woefully understaffed, and they are receiving a record amount of homeowners to deal with. The problem lies with the mortgage company.
Now, let us examine closely how a homeowner may go about obtaining the assistance of their mortgage company.
Firstly, the homeowner must get in contact with the mortgage company. Now, this may seem like a very simple task, but an eye-opening study reveals that only 40% of homeowners actually get in contact with the mortgage company while facing foreclosure. This staggering statistic reveals that 60% of homeowners never speak with anyone from their mortgage company during foreclosure.
Now, if a homeowner happens to be one of the fortunate 40% then they have a daunting task to face. The homeowner must convince the mortgage company to send a workout agreement. This agreement is very complex and usually involves about 35-40 pages of financial paperwork. A separate study reveals that only 10% of all homeowners receive a proper workout agreement, indicating that 90% of all homeowners never have a solid financial opportunity to save their home.
The next step is to fill out the workout package perfectly. In fact, this extensive document must be absolutely infallible for the mortgage company to even look at it. If the package is missing any information, not formatted correctly, not in the proper order, or is not completely tailor-made to the mortgage company’s specifications, then it will not be considered for any type of agreement.
Finally, if the homeowner has jumped through all the hoops that the mortgage company has put in front of them, yet another task remains. The homeowner must negotiate with the mortgage company to obtain an affordable repayment plan. Many times the mortgage company’s idea of what a homeowner can afford differs dramatically from reality. It is up to the homeowner to convince the mortgage company to give them a deal that is financially viable.
So, now that the homeowner has laboriously contacted the mortgage company, persuaded them to send a workout package, completed the package with perfection, and negotiated an affordable repayment plan, the home can be saved from foreclosure. Sadly the vast majority of homeowners are not able to do this because of the operations of the mortgage company.
Homeowners need assistance in dealing with the mortgage companies. The American homeowner needs someone to come to the rescue and deal with the people that have the power to help. Some companies are accomplishing that every day, but the average homeowner does not have access to these types of firms.
Until then, we will have homeowners losing their homes to the very people that have the power to help.
It is quite sad indeed.