[khelp]

Could someone give me feedback on if my hardship letter is acceptable? Thanks in advance!

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter to explain my unfortunate set of circumstances that have caused us to become delinquent on our mortgage. We have done everything in our power to make ends meet but unfortunately we have fallen short and would like you to consider working with us to modify our loan. Our number one goal is to keep ourselves and our children in our home and we would really appreciate the opportunity to do that.

The main reason that caused us to be late and fall behind in our bills is due to the current state of the economy we saw a drop in our monthly income in our small business and also income I earned as a licensed real estate salesperson and Realtor with the State of California. Over the summer when the gasoline prices increased, not only did our personal and business outgoing expenses increased but we experience a sharp drop in business which decreased our income. During this time we experienced an increase in customers bouncing checks for services rendered as well as a loss of long time customers because of their inability to pay for our services. My income as a Realtor is now completely non-existent due to the sub-prime loan crisis, credit freezing, and home sales in my area virtually at a stand still. My husband and I are now living off of one income alone which is the income generated from our small business. Soon after being late and our income not being nearly enough, we had fallen further and further behind. Now, it’s to the point where we cannot afford to pay what is owed on our adjustable rate interest only mortgage with Aurora Loan Services as well as Bank of America who holds our second mortgage at a high 8.94% interest rate. It is our full intention to pay what we owe. But at this time we have exhausted all of our income and resources so we are turning to you for help.

As explained above, in approximately June of this year 2008 our income had severely decreased and our outgoing dramatically increased due to the sharp rise in oil prices. To add insult to injury my Aunt had a debilitating stroke which forced me to take time off from my business to drive down to Burbank, CA to care for her. This situation was only temporary as when oil prices dropped our income has increased again and my Aunt is now in Hospice which has allowed me to go back to work with the reassurance that she is being properly cared for.

We are now desperately trying to recover from months of being in the red financially and are scrambling to pay on bills which had gone in default but we are struggling and cannot seem to catch up due to the high interest rates and payments. Since the purchase of our home, our resale value has declined approximately 20% which has made it impossible to refinance for a lower rate.We have been actively adhering to a strict budget which was developed during a credit counseling session with a Mr. Tony Tran, Certified Consumer Credit Counselor with Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Orange County.Due to our situation improving due to our diligent efforts we believe this is something we can recover from if we only were given a chance. We strongly believe that a loan modification would benefit us in our current situation. Currently our first mortgage through your company Aurora Loan Services is an interest only adjustable rate loan and our second mortgage through Bank of America is fixed but is at an unbearable 8.94%. If we cannot modify these loans by combining them into one mortgage at a low fixed rate we will inevitable lose our home. We would appreciate if you can work with us to lower our payments so we can keep our home and also afford to make amends with your firm by paying our mortgage on time.

We truly hope that you will consider working with us and we are anxious to get this settled so we can recover from our financial losses and look forward to a positive future.