hardship letter - HELP!!!

[shortsaleinsouthjersey]

Hello all - I am despirately in need of your help. My family MUST move from our area and we are trying to short sale. The area we live in is not at all what we were hoping to raise children in and when we bought 7 years ago we just got married and weren't even thinking about kids. Needless to say, we now have 3 kids and are totally trapped in our seriously upside down mortgage.

We tried to short sale 2 years ago, but were told that we were denied b/c we were current on our payments. I have been told that we can get it approved and be current but so much has to do with our hardship letter. I need serious help to get this approved this time. I just drafted a letter, but am not convinced it's enough to get it approved - we have Bank of America and I've been told that they are notoriously difficult to get them approved without defaulting.

Anyone with advice please, please help!!! Thank you soooo much!!!!

Here is my first draft....
Dear Creditor:
>>
Since the beginning of February we are experiencing financial difficulties due to a reduction in hours at my primary employer from 40 hours a week to 26 hours per week and a 31% reduction in the reimbursement rate for my secondary income. Both of these factors have drastically decreased our family’s monthly income. Additionally, beginning in May due to the birth of our third child, daycare costs will more than double from 1700.00 per month to 2500.00 per month.
We have been current on our payments, but after analyzing our family’s current financial situation, including current expenses, the recent loss of income, and the upcoming significant increase in childcare, we can no longer afford to meet the original terms of the agreement. In the last couple of years, our home has lost about 34% of its value making it impossible to refinance, since the equity we once had is now gone. We have no choice but to ask you for your help on avoiding the impending foreclosure of our family’s home.
We love our house, but know that our financial situation cannot sustain our current home mortgage. We want to sell the home, avoid foreclosure, and salvage our credit so that we are able to continue to provide for our family. We know that a foreclosure will stay on our record and will affect us for years to come and we are asking that you please assist us in avoiding this.
Please accept this offer as payment in full. We respectfully request that this short sale be approved, otherwise, we will have no choice but to foreclose on our home. We just want to move on as quickly as possible and be able to securely provide for our family.
We deeply appreciate your help and understanding in this matter.

[Evan Bedard]

Welcome and thanks you for joining the community.

It is true that it is much more difficult to get approved for a short sale while current, but it is not impossible and we have quite a few members who have been able to do so.. It is also much eaiser to ahcieve if you have only a single mortgage.. Also a short sale is not going to protect you if the lender decides to go after you for the difference, meaning the outcome could be almost the same as a foreclosure besides the credit impact.. How many mortgages do you have on the property?

[Maplemissy]

We started off as 'current' when we moved from our home last fall, and we stayed current as long as we could -- three months after we vacated the premises. Once we began paying rent, though, it became almost impossible to keep everyone paid ... so we stopped. I know it's anecdotal, but our banks had virtually no communication with us about the short sale until we fell behind. After we fell behind, things moved much more quickly (as quickly as a short sale can move, that is).

Anyways, I'm replying because our hardship letter was pretty similar to yours. We also included the veiled threat that 'yeah, we're current now, but we won't be for long.' It didn't seem to matter to them, and CITI (2nd) went so far as to inform us -- in writing, and over the phone (a conversation which was recorded by a consumer advocacy group) -- that we flat out would NOT be approved so long as we remained current.

We wanted to preserve our credit so we could buy right away but in the end, getting the short sale approved took priority.

[Evan Bedard]

Anyways, I'm replying because our hardship letter was pretty similar to yours. We also included the veiled threat that 'yeah, we're current now, but we won't be for long.' It didn't seem to matter to them, and CITI (2nd) went so far as to inform us -- in writing, and over the phone (a conversation which was recorded by a consumer advocacy group) -- that we flat out would NOT be approved so long as we remained current.

Yes with a short sale it is generally much harder to complete the process if you are current on your mortgage and have a second mortgage attached to the property.. 2nd mortgage holders usually make the process much harder to complete as they usually do not get much money at all from the sale..

[Setmefree]

I submitted 2 letters while current. Nothing. In one case they didnt even bother to tell us we were denied. They gave me a phone number to keep checking, and no one ever responded to my voice mails. Then one day that phone number didnt work. Thanks Citi....

[Evan Bedard]

I submitted 2 letters while current. Nothing. In one case they didnt even bother to tell us we were denied. They gave me a phone number to keep checking, and no one ever responded to my voice mails. Then one day that phone number didnt work. Thanks Citi....

It is definitely possible to achieve a short sale while current and we have quite a few members who were successful doing so. Here are some threads with members who were successful doing so and some good contacts for you to use for Citi:

Short Sale Success

impact on credit - short sale while current on payments

Credit Repercussions of Short Sale While Current on Payments: My Experience

Can you do a short sale if current?

Short Sale Success with Indy and Citi while current on Pymts!!

Citi executive team here;
1-718-248-0847

Michael Cardace
michael.cardace@citi.com

Frank Eliason
frank.eliason@citi.com