Foreclosure - Stop it from happening to your family

Having your house sold as a foreclosure is one of the worst things that can ever happen to you. It is a helpless feeling once you receive a notice that you must vacate your house, and see that for sale sign go up. But there are actions you can take to prevent foreclosure. Stop foreclosure even when your home is in pre-foreclosure by educating yourself of your options. Many people think that once they are close to foreclosure or in preforeclosure that there is nothing they can do to stop the spiral towards losing their home. This could not be further from the truth and in fact, there is much you can do to save your house.

You can help to stop foreclosure by:

- Asking your lender if you can have some extra time to make up your missed payments. This process is called forbearance
- Refinancing: If your lender refinances you can spread your payments out over a longer term and reduce your monthly repayment amount.
- Get a partial claim: This is when you have certain government loans that allow you to apply for another loan. Ask your lender if this applies to you.
- Having a payment forgiven: This is rare but an option nonetheless. The lender may waive a payment that you have missed.
- Sell your home: If you think there is no other way out and you have exhausted all negotiation options with your bank, then selling your home is not as drastic as it sounds. It allows you to get enough money to buy a smaller house, in a more affordable suburb or simply to rent somewhere until you are ready to buy again. Selling your home before foreclosure also protects you from getting a bad credit rating.
- Deed the home back to the ender by signing a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. The lender will forgive the mortgage and the foreclosure action can be cancelled. Your credit may still be affected though.

The last thing you want to happen is have your home sold as foreclosure. Stop foreclosure by taking action starting right now. Whether you are already in pre-foreclosure or just feel that you are struggling with payments on your mortgage now is the time to act. The above are just some ideas on how to stop foreclosure from happening to you - make sure you act on them and continue to educate yourself on other options that may benefit you at this very difficult time.