If you are falling behind on your mortgage payments and your house is in jeopardy you have

a few choices.You can stop making payments all together and wait for your house to be taken away, you can negotiate with the lender and ask for a

forbearance agreement or you can your sell you house for less than the mortgage amount due in a short sale.

     I have seen much commentary on the daily talk shows and newspaper columns that banks are reaching out to help borrowers before they get to this stage.I do not know any lenders that are taking this extra mile to help their poor bleeding borrowers. It is your responsibility to know your own finances and take care of your house payments.

     If you do not care, let your house go to auction.It could take a while, you will be assled by the lender to no end and you will wind up owing tons in fees and interest.

     If you care a little and think you can get yourself out of the sack, then call the lender ask for some help.A forbearance agreement is when the lender will allow you to make smaller payments or skip a few and tack the money (not paid) onto the backend of the loan. Meaning they will give you some reprieve but you have to pay up when you sell the house or get back on your feet.This will work only if you think you can get back on your feet and not as a band aid to have the lender stay off your back.

If there is no hope, jump ship and get out as soon as you can. Sell the house before you fall too much behind and rack up more interest, penalties and fees. Every day you wait, is more money you are throwing away. If you sell the house for less than the mortgage amount due, this is called lopsided or upside down.What you need to do is call the bank and prove financial hardship.You are asking the bank to take less than is owed.This is called a short sale.

     For any of these, I would have a good lawyer, CPA and trusted advisor.I would get all of my asset, income and credit info in order.The lender is going to ask for much proof of your financial hardship.

It is easier and less painful to do this in the beginning rather than ignoring the problem until it is too big to handle. I agree that you should call your

lender, but know….they are not calling you or anything else but for money.

-Dale Siegel