In my blogs, I’ve decided to cover questions that homeowners ask me frequently because they probably are representative of questions a lot of people are asking…

Yes, you can inquire with a bank on your own regarding a home loan modification. In fact, I recommend that everyone go that route whether you are late on your mortgage or not. The reason I recommend it is because there is no harm in trying to see if you can improve the terms on your loan. Although, you will need to show some type of financial hardship to qualify for a loan workout plan. See one of my earlier posts regarding the three main ways you can qualify for a home loan modification.

Now if you are not late on your mortgage, you should know that you will be last in line as far as being a priority to your bank. You are just not on their radar since you have not been late and there are thousands of other people on the brink of foreclosure. In order to get the banks attention, you need to be peristent and call them daily to make sure they don’t lose track of your file.

That being said, most people work and have familial obligations so they don’t have time to sit on hold with their bank only to be transferred three times before they finally talk to someone who says they don’t have record of their file. It can get frustrating and tedious.

What ends up happeining is that the homeowner gets discouraged and stops calling frequently or worse case, gives up altogether.

So my response to people when they ask if they can do it themselves is yes but if somebody can do it for you without you paying anything unless you know you qualify, wouldn’t that be worth it to you? If not, that’s okay, too. However, don’t let that stop you from trying to better the terms on your loan. Call your bank today to get the process started if you don’t want to go through a company. If you find its something you can handle on your own, that’s great. If you get into the process and realize its more than you can handle or you have circumstances that might warrant asking for assistance from an outside company, you can always use that option if you feel you need it.