Title:
Keeping your Home
Despite a Job Loss
Word Count:
560
Summary:
Job loss is a
grim specter for a mortgage holder. For
most of us, that mortgage payment is at the top of the monthly bill payment
list. You can talk almost any creditor
into short term relief and even long term restructuring – the phone company,
your car loan(s), credit card companies; they deal with delinquent payment
plans daily. Mortgage companies get
nervous much more quickly, but most are willing to consider at least one skipped
payment if your unemployment is for a short period.
Keywords:
Article Body:
Job loss is a
grim specter for a mortgage holder. For
most of us, that mortgage payment is at the top of the monthly bill payment
list. You can talk almost any creditor
into short term relief and even long term restructuring – the phone company,
your car loan(s), credit card companies; they deal with delinquent payment
plans daily. Mortgage companies get
nervous much more quickly, but most are willing to consider at least one
skipped payment if your unemployment is for a short period.
Mortgage Insurance?
You may not remember this in the flurry of documents and signing sessions that
accompanied your home purchase, but you may well have an insurance policy that
protects your lender against mortgage default.
If you have a loan that is more than 80% of the home’s value when
purchased, you probably are also paying for mortgage insurance. It’s incorporated into that list of
particulars you pay on every month: principal, interest, taxes, homeowner’s
insurance – and mortgage insurance. It’s
meant to protect the lender; see what protection it provides for you.
Talk to your Lender
It is important to talk to your mortgage lender. Job upheaval is sufficiently commonplace in
this country that many mortgage holders have become flexible about
restructuring loans, as long as you are prompt in informing them and honest
about your job prospects.
A typical restructuring will allow for lesser payments until your income is
reestablished, at which point the bank will again restructure to get you back
on schedule. Keep in mind that prospective new employers are almost as likely
to check your credit rating as prospective lenders.
Before you enter into discussions with your lender on this prospect, decide
what you can afford. Don’t be grateful
for whatever is offered, and agree to a financing plan that you can’t
meet. Tell your lender that your maximum
temporary mortgage payment has to be 60% of the norm, not the 75% they are
proposing. If you lose the house, it
costs them money too.
Bankruptcy – The Poison Pill
The long term answer to keeping your home while unemployed is filing for
bankruptcy. The unattractive fallout
from exercising this option is known to most of us, although the hard and fast
rules have changed somewhat. What used
to be seven years of no credit at all has become credit card eligibility after
two years. Depending on the circumstances
of your bankruptcy, you may be eligible for high risk auto loans and other debt
within two to three years after bankruptcy.
That assumes, of course, that you have regained employment status and
are once again making mortgage payments.
Also, bankruptcy has become so common that the Federal Government is on
the verge of making it a much less attractive option for consumers.
Near Term Borrowing
With near-term unemployment and an unclear future, many people have put
mortgage payments on their credit cards until the limits on those cards are
reached. It may blow holes in your
credit rating, but it will keep you current on the mortgage and stave off
bankruptcy. You can attempt to obtain a
home equity loan to fill the hole in your monthly budget, but those are much
harder to come by when you’re unemployed.
If there are others in the household who are employed, the home equity
loan may be a viable option.