Top 10 Mistakes People Make When Writing Their Hardship Letter And
How YOU Can Avoid Them
Your lender knows that something happened in your life that made it difficult to make your mortgage payment. They call this a hardship. When you request a mortgage modification or short sale from your lender, they will require you to provide a letter describing your hardship. This letter is called a hardship letter and writing one can be a little trickier then you may think. Here are the top ten mistakes I see people make while writing hardship letters.
- - Avoid Mistake #1 Tell The Truth!
Stick with the truth. You do not need to embellish your story to make it better (or worse as the case may be.) A common misconception is that your story needs to be complicated to be believable. This is NOT true. Simple is better whenever possible.
- - Avoid Mistake #2 Stop whining and start focusing
Your hardship letter is not the place for you to describe all the bad experiences you’ve had with your lender’s collection department. It’s not the place to describe every little detail of why you lost your job or how bad your boss treated you either.
Your goal is to present yourself as a rational, reliable person that got behind on your mortgage and is now ready to make it right. Stay focused. Don’t try to win sympathy, because you won’t. Just tell your story plain and simple.
Did you lose your job? Say that.
Did you go through a divorce? Say that.
Don’t try to get fancy.
- - Avoid Mistake #3 Don’t Fly Off The Handle
Pointing fingers, blaming, calling the lender names, etc., isn’t going to get you anywhere either. Stay calm and business like.
- - Avoid Mistake #4 Don’t Forget Identifying information
It may seem obvious that your name, address and loan number needs to be apart of your letter but this is often overlooked.
- - Avoid Mistake #5 It’s Not An Essay Contest
Don’t worry your grammar and writing skills do not need to be flawless to write a successful hardship letter. Your lender cares much more that your letter is honest and sincere than if it is perfect. Write the best letter you can and then ask a friend to review it before you send it in.
- - Avoid Mistake #6 Don’t Ask For The Moon
This isn’t the time to threaten, cajole, or make promises you can’t keep. And don’t expect the mortgage lender to do something like start your payments fresh (although they might in some cases). Instead, present reasonable options that allow you to catch up on your mortgage payments.
Explain how much money you’re willing to contribute to the workout plan. If you don’t have any, say that and explain why. They expect you to have saved all of the payments you’ve missed. If you haven’t been able to do that, explain why.
Focus on establishing that a workout is necessary, meaning that you cannot afford to pay your mortgage under its present terms.
- - Avoid Mistake #7 Don’t Write Your Letter By Hand
I have seen it suggested that hand writing your hardship letter adds a personal touch, makes you seem like a real human being. I do not agree. No matter how neat your hand writing it is not going to be as easy to read a typed letter. The key here is that your letter needs to be easy to read and easy on the eyes. Use a basic font like Arial and a font size of 12.
- - Avoid Mistake #8 Avoid Unnecessary Details
Don’t be caught up in the idea of making an "impact" on your lender, it is not a sales pitch. It is not an essay-writing contest either. It is a business letter that needs to be concise and to the point. Don’t get me wrong, I like details but they must be relevant. The hardship letter is describing your current financial hardship, not what happened twenty years ago. This is not a place to hang out a laundry list of your personal problems. No one needs to know that you had a booze or drug problem prior to 1997. This is not a place to get into blaming others for your current situation.
- - Avoid Mistake #9 Don’t Forget Your Good Payment History
The only payment history that matters is the one to your current lender. Have you been paying your mortgage on time for the past seven years? Mention it. If you got behind at one time and caught up, mention it. Describe your hardship and reasons for it (in detail)
- - Avoid Mistake #10 Don’t Go It Alone
You need an objective eye or two here. When you write your letter, have someone else read it. This person doesn’t have to know everything about a hardship letter. You just want them to give you overall feedback and make sure you didn’t make any glaring spelling, grammatical or factual errors.
Finally, if you are simply overwhelmed by the thought of going through this alone, I recommend you consult with a professional attorney based mortgage modification company. Their wisdom and guidance can be priceless.
Tom Mack simplifies the mortgage modification process. Find out more about Loan Modifications and “How To Write A Killer Hardship Letter” with his popular FREE Special Report, available at: => CreativeLoanModification.com
