Credit: D Sharon Pruitt

It’s not rare to find someone today that has a mortgage underwater, or one that is looking to get their loan modified.  If you’re falling into the trap of wanting to get your loan modified, you’re going to find that it’s going to be awfully hard to get it to the right people.

Since banks are rather large companies and the phone operators just throw you for a spin, you will feel like you’re lost!  Thankfully for the Internet, I can give you some tips on how you can write a letter to the bank to get what you want.

#1 Know where to send your letter – Each bank is going to be different and it’s essential that you know where to send your letter.  You will want to research your bank’s address to ensure that your letter is getting into the right hands.

#2 You must be behind in payments – If you’re not behind on your payments, they won’t even listen to you.  I know it’s silly to miss out on your payments, but by doing so, you will find that the banks will actually listen to you.  Most won’t talk to you until you’ve missed about 3-6 payments.

#3 Put all information on the letter - They need to know who you are.  Make sure that you put your loan number, home address, as well as your name.  I wouldn’t put any sensitive data on there such as your social security number, etc.

#4 Explain your financial deal - Why do you need to get your loan modified?  You want to keep this short and sweet.  Let them know if you lost a job, income source, etc.  They want to know why you’re missing payments, as well as why you’re looking to get your loan modified.

#5 Tell them what you want – Let’s say that you had a mortgage rate of 7% and after the rate increase, it jumped to 11%.  Explain to them that you can’t afford the extra payments and you would love to have the rate back down to 7%.

#6 Tell them the consequences - Let them know what’s going to happen if this can’t be resolved.  Tell them that it will more than likely go into foreclosure, cause hardships with your family, stress, and more.

Yes, we all know that you should have known the rate was going to increase in the future, but a lot of us couldn’t predict the down fall of the housing market.  While many banks are easy to work with, if you know the right department to contact, I would best advise you that you at least try, so that you can say you did.

For some great examples of hardship letters, be sure to check out this forum thread over at LoanSafe.org.