Writing a Successful Hardship Letter

With thousands of foreclosures happening and a predicted second wave coming, loan modification has become increasingly popular for struggling homeowners. Lenders daily have to sift through hundreds of credible and disingenuous applications. The hardship letter most of the time is the only thing that sets homeowner applications apart. If you write a proper hardship letter, with all important information included, your chances for getting your loan modified increase dramatically.

If you are unsure on what to include in your hardship letter here are some guidelines.

A hardship letter should be no longer than two pages long. Your lender does not want to read a lot, because it wastes their time, and for them time is money. Although a hardship letter should be relatively short, it should never be vague. Disclose all important information related to your case.

That includes:

- Updated contact information
- Important documents such as receipts; death certificates; medical receipts; unemployment notices; etc.
- Bank statements
- Last year's tax return

In your hardship letter you should explain why you are having trouble paying your mortgage on time. Don't invent crazy excuses, but state the facts. If you lost your job, had a divorce, had a death in the family, or unexpected expenses that were not your fault, include them. The lender understands the unstable economic situation that is happening right now; don't shy away from the truth.

Always be polite, and thank your lender for their time. The person reading your hardship will feel appreciated and will be more inclined to approve your application.

On the other hand there are things that you should not include in your hardship letter, unless you want to risk not getting approved.

You should never threaten your lender with saying you won't pay or damage the house. They don't take threats lightly, and you kill your chance of getting a loan modification.

Don't make yourself look financial irresponsible. They won't trust that you will be able to pay them back even after they modified your mortgage.

Don't include any information on legal proceedings. It's not important to your case, and might bring wrong emotions in to your case.

Although a proper hardship letter is a good step toward achieving your home loan modified, there are more steps and pitfalls that homeowners can fall in to. Homeowners need to learn the subject in and out, know the vocabulary that shows you know what you are talking about so that the lender will not take advantage of you again.

The best solution is getting a do it yourself loan modification kit. One such kit is 60 Minute Loan Modification. It include a professional hardship letter outline that will catch your lenders attention, it also includes conversation between homeowners and representatives, so that you can hear what to say and more importantly what not to say. The kit will teach you all the needed vocabulary, and most importantly the kit was created by a person who modified five of his home loans, and numerous loans of his clients. Many people used this kit with success, and overall it's a great product.