The reasons that you end up in foreclosure are often enough on their own to crush your spirit and send you into a depressed spiral. However, you have the power to stop the process if you want to. Follow these simple steps.

Foreclosure - What Banks Don't Want You to Know
By John Paytten

The reasons that you end up in foreclosure are often enough on their own to crush your spirit and send you into a depressed spiral. However, you have the power to stop the process if you want to. Follow these simple steps.

1. Call the Lender. It is hard, and you need to swallow your pride, but this is a crucial step. Contacting the lender ensures a positive relationship and getting what you want in the end. If you contact them they may allow you do to one of the following:

- If you can prove to them that you have the ability to make up the missed payment, they may allow you time to do so, while you continue to make normal payments. This is called a forbearance and is a common option for many homeowners who are facing the possibility of a foreclosure, but who have not yet entered the proceedings.

- In some rare cases they may allow you to simply forget about the missed payments, especially if you show the ability and willingness to make future payments. Debt forgiveness is very rare, but not totally uncommon during today's tough economic times. Banks have so much bad debt on their books that they are often willing to go to extreme measures to keep you in your home making payments.

- Some lenders will take the total amount of your missed payments and essentially refinance you, adding the total of those missed payment back into your principal. You may have to pay more in the long run, but it allows you to stay in your home without an damage to your credit or through suffering other unsavory options.

- The government has been pressuring banks to help the American public, and as a result, some lenders may be willing to change the terms of your mortgage. This is the best possible option if you find yourself in a home that you can no longer afford, or that you received an initially unfavorable interest rate.

If you have further specific questions about foreclosure help go to foreclosure help
An additional site for new homeowners is located at mortgage prequalification

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