FORECLOSURE AVOIDANCE OPTIONS

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You and your mortgage servicer agree to permanently change one or more of the terms of the mortgage contract to make your payments more manageable for you. Modifications may include reducing the interest rate, extending the term of the loan, or adding missed payments to the loan balance. A modification also may involve reducing the amount of money you owe on your primary residence by forgiving or canceling a portion of the mortgage debt.

Your servicer gives you a fixed amount of time to repay the amount you are behind by adding a portion of what is past due to your regular payment. This option may be appropriate if you've missed a smaller number of payments and can temporarily make higher monthly payments.

Your mortgage payments are reduced or suspended for a period of time. Note, however, that interest may continue accruing during a period of forbearance, and that you will need to repay reduced or missed payments when your forbearance ends. Before your forbearance ends, it is important that you work with your servicer to put a post-forbearance exit plan in place. For example, you might resume making your regular payments along with a lump sum payment, or make additional partial payments for a number of months to bring the loan current. Forbearance may be helpful option if your income is reduced temporarily (for example, you are on disability leave from a job, and you expect to go back to your full time position shortly), but not if you cannot afford to pay your mortgage on a longer basis.

Your servicer moves past-due mortgage payments (principal and interest) to the end of the loan as a non-interest bearing balance. Deferring missed payments does not affect your monthly rate or the overall length of the loan. The balance is due at the maturity date, or earlier upon the sale or transfer of the property, refinance of the mortgage loan, or payoff of the interest-bearing balance of the loan. Deferral may be a good option for those facing temporary financial setbacks.

You pay the loan servicer the entire past-due amount after a delinquency (or the end of forbearance plan), plus any late fees or penalties, by a certain date. This option may be appropriate if your problem is paying your mortgage is temporary.

The standard process of selling your home for more than the outstanding mortgage debt. The servicer must allow reasonable time for you to sell your home, upon which you will receive all of the proceeds. This process is the utmost preferable to foreclosure, since you won't lose all your equity.

The servicer agrees to allow you to sell your home for less than the outstanding mortgage debt. The servicer must approve the sale, and receives all of the proceeds. This process can be preferable to foreclosure since, among other things, it allows you stay in your home until the sale's completion, and has a less negative impact to your credit score.

You agree to transfer your home to your lender, who agrees to release you from your mortgage obligations. Like a short sale, this has a less negative impact on your credit than foreclosure.

California law provides you important rights during the foreclosure process. For example, a servicer cannot file a notice of default (which starts the foreclosure process) until thirty days after making diligent effort to contact you to discuss foreclosure alternatives. (Cal. Civ. Code, Section 2923.55.) In addition, if you request a loan modification or other foreclosure prevention alternative, your servicer generally must provide you a guaranteed Single Point of Contact (SPOC) to communicate with you about deadlines, coordinate receipt of required documents, access your current and accurate loan information, and consider you for all foreclosure prevention alternatives. (Cal. Civ. Code, Section 2923.7.)

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