Behind on the Mortgage? Here Are the Options, in the Order They Usually Work

Call the servicer before the due date if you can, and no later than the first missed one. Say hardship, ask for loss mitigation, ask for the application and the list of documents, and write down the date and the name. That call, made early, is the single most valuable thing on this page.

Not on your own. Many servicers return partial payments or hold them without applying them, and the account still reports late. A partial payment only works inside a repayment plan or forbearance the servicer has agreed to in writing. Ask for that plan instead of sending what you can and hoping.

Under the federal servicing rules, make a real attempt to reach you by about day 36, send you a written notice of your options by about day 45, assign you a contact, evaluate a complete loss-mitigation application for every option you qualify for, and not make the first foreclosure filing until you are more than 120 days behind. Those rules exist so that you have time; use it.

One page, four things: what happened, when it happened, whether it has ended or when it will, and what you can pay now. Facts, dates and amounts, not apologies. Attach the proof. Art and a HUD counselor will both read a draft with you.

A nonprofit counselor certified by the federal housing agency to help homeowners in default. They cost nothing, they know the servicer's programs, and they can speak to the servicer for you. Find one through HUD's counselor locator or the servicer's own notice, which is required to list them. If someone wants a fee for the same service, walk away.

An agreement to pause or reduce payments for a set time during a temporary hardship, with the missed amount resolved afterward by a repayment plan, a deferral or a modification. It is not forgiveness. Credit reporting depends on the plan and the servicer; ask in writing how it will report before you accept.

You choose how to make up the missed payments: all at once, spread over a repayment plan, moved to the end of the loan through a deferral or partial claim, or folded into a modification. A lump sum is never the only option under the federal rules. Ask for the deferral first if your income is back.

A permanent change to the loan itself so the payment fits your income: a longer term, a different rate structure, or part of the balance set aside. It fits a permanent drop in income that still leaves enough to carry a lower payment. The servicer runs the numbers; the application and the proof decide. A counselor helps you present it.

FHA has its own menu, including a partial claim that moves missed payments into a no-interest second lien due when the house is sold or refinanced, and its own modification. VA and USDA loans have their own versions too. The servicer must offer the menu that matches your loan; ask which program yours is.

Generally not, if the application is complete and received before the sale is scheduled; the federal rules stop the process while a complete application is evaluated and while you appeal a denial. Complete is the key word. Confirm in writing that the servicer considers it complete, and keep the confirmation.

Often, yes, and it is the one option on this page Art can work directly. A refinance needs a clean payment history, equity and income that supports the new payment. If the squeeze is coming and you are still current, call before the first missed payment; that call is the difference between a refinance and a year of waiting.

Almost never on a standard program; they want no 30-day lates in the last 12 months. The path is the servicer's options first, then a refinance later once the history is clean again. Art will tell you that straight and put a date on when the refinance door reopens.

If the house is worth clearly more than you owe and the income is not coming back, often yes: a sale protects the equity and the credit, and you choose the timing. If the income is coming back and the payment fits, keep it. Art runs the equity math with you and says which one the numbers favor; the decision stays yours.

A sale for less than you owe, with the servicer agreeing in writing to accept the proceeds and, ideally, to waive the rest. It needs the servicer's approval, an agent who has done them, and patience; several months is normal. It costs your credit less than a foreclosure and shortens the wait before you can buy again to 2 to 4 years depending on the program.

You give the deed back to the lender by agreement instead of going through the sale. It usually requires that the house be listed first without selling, that there be no other liens, and that you move out on a schedule. Less credit damage than a foreclosure, sometimes relocation assistance, and a shorter wait to buy again. Ask that any remaining balance be waived in writing.

Mostly without a court. The trustee records a notice of default, a waiting period runs, a notice of sale is recorded and posted, and the house is sold at a public trustee's sale for cash. Each notice carries dates and rights, including the right to reinstate and, for owner-occupied homes, to elect mediation. Read every notice the day it arrives and take it to a counselor or an attorney.

A state program for owner-occupied homes that pauses the sale and puts you, the lender and a neutral mediator at one table to look for a workout. You elect it in response to the notice of default, within the deadline printed on it, with a form and a fee. It does not guarantee a result; it guarantees the meeting. A counselor or attorney can help you file on time.

Nevada gives a right to reinstate, paying everything missed plus fees and costs, up to a point set by statute shortly before the sale. The amount grows every month, so the earlier you use it the cheaper it is. The notice of default tells you how to get the exact figure.

Sometimes. Nevada limits deficiency judgments on many owner-occupied purchase loans and has deadlines and caps for the rest, but the rules depend on the loan type, the lender and when the loan was made. This is exactly a question for a Nevada attorney before the sale, not after.

From the first missed payment to a sale is usually many months: the federal 120-day floor before the first filing, then Nevada's notice periods, then any mediation. It is long enough to sell with equity, long enough to complete an application, and long enough to run out if you wait. Every letter tells you where you are.

Any of these: a fee before anything is done, a promise to stop the foreclosure or guarantee a modification, instructions to stop paying the servicer or to pay them instead, a request to sign the deed over, or pressure to act today. Federal rules bar most companies from charging in advance for modification help. The free counselor and your servicer are the only two calls you need.

Missed payments report as lates; a modification reports as modified; a short sale or deed-in-lieu reports as settled; a foreclosure is the heaviest mark. Every step you take toward a workout costs less than the one after it. The credit guide on this site covers the rebuild, and the bankruptcy-and-foreclosure guide covers the wait before the next mortgage.

A bankruptcy filing pauses a foreclosure automatically, and a Chapter 13 can let you catch up over years, but it is a legal decision with its own costs and clocks. That is a question for a bankruptcy attorney, not a lender. If you take that path, the bankruptcy guide on this site shows when each mortgage program opens again afterward.

First, send the servicer the death certificate and ask in writing to be recognized as the successor in interest; federal rules require them to work with you even if you were not on the loan. Then the same menu applies: a modification to fit your income, or a sale with equity. The inherited-home guide on this site covers the title side.

It depends on the program and the event: as soon as 2 years on VA, 3 on FHA and USDA, 4 on conventional after a short sale and 7 after a foreclosure, with shorter waits for documented extenuating circumstances. The bankruptcy-and-foreclosure guide on this site has the whole table, and Art keeps the file warm until your date.

Because the people who get straight answers in a bad year are the ones who come back in a good one, and because Art has taken these calls for a long time and would rather you hear it from someone with no fee to charge you. There is nothing to sell on this page. If a refinance is possible, he will say so; if it is not, he will say that too.