Examples of a Hardship Letter

melisa0130 · Jul 29, 2010

I am submitting my own hardship letter and was wondering if someone could look over it and tell me what they think:

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I am writing this letter to explain my unfortunate set of circumstances that have caused me to need to modify my current loan. I have done everything in my power to make my ends meet, but unfortunately I have fallen short recently and would like for you to consider working with me to modify my loan. My primary goal is to keep my house for myself and my children and I would appreciate the opportunity to do that.
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The main reason I have been unable to make ends meet is because in December of 2009 I was divorced. This therefore cut my combined monthly income from roughly $3700 down to approximately $2200 (which includes my child support payments). I have since taken on a renter who moved in at the beginning of February and who is paying about $500 a month. I was hoping this would help me be able to continue to make my payments in a timely manner and manage the other household bills as well, but due to rising utility costs as well as expenses such as my childrenâ€™s braces and school bills, I have fallen short. I also have a medical debt due to thyroid issues that I owe to Piedmont Medical Center and affiliates totaling approximately $2300 which I would like to pay off as well. I have been making all of my monthly mortgage payments every month and have not ever defaulted on this loan more than 30 days. I may not be able to always pay by the 16<sup>th</sup>, but I always pay at least my principal amount due. I always choose to make my mortgage payment above all other bills as this is my most valuable asset and the only home my children know. I have exhausted all of my other resources such as savings, my 2009 tax return, and loans from friends/family, and am at this time unable to make all of my monthly bills without risking not being able to make my mortgage payment. I want to always make my mortgage payments, but I also desperately need to pay my main utilities as I work from home and if they cut off my power/internet I will not be able to work and therefore would not be able to make the monthly mortgage payments. I feel caught in a cycle of â€œrobbing Peter to pay Paulâ€ and I no longer have that ability anymore.
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I am attempting to find more work in order to make this less of a burden, but the economy, my fulltime job, and being a single mother make this difficult. I have contacted my employer and they are going to try to find more work for me through them therefore not having to go outside the home as I feel my children need me to help with their daily activities/needs/homework. I am trying to make this less of a difficult time for my children as they have already gone through so many changes in the last 7 months. I do feel that I will eventually get more work, but unfortunately it will take time to build this up and I feel a loan modification would greatly help me achieve my goal of keeping myself and my children in this home.
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I truly hope that you will consider working with me and I am anxious to get this settled as soon as possible so that I can get back on track. I thank you so much for your willingness to listen to my needs and for working with me in resolving this very important issue. I very much would love to keep myself and my children in this home, as this is a very hard time in their lives and I do not want to add any more burdens on them by having to move out.
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Sincerely and respectfully yours,

Thanks...

pup2plywif · Aug 4, 2010

sounds good. rfd: reduced income and marital diff. i currently work in loss mitt at major bank. good detail providing exact amounts of mtd income reduction from divoce. they only need this letter as a requirement for the HAM by the govt. an explanation of why you fell behind. the length really doesnt matter its just to make sure you have a valid long term hardship and it sounds like you do.

azdoggie · Aug 14, 2010

We are pursuing a short sale in AZ and I'd like some feedback on the hardship portion of my letter. Is this too much or irrelevant information?
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<meta http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.2 (Win32)"><style type="text/css">  </style> Our home was purchased in April 2006. I lost my job in May 2008 making $60,000 year. I received about $10,000 in severance pay that went into savings. I then found employment the following month making $42,000 year. This is a 28% decrease in income. In that time I have not received any pay increases other than the occasional bonus or overtime, both of which have been eliminated at my place of employment. During this time all monthly expenses have continued to increase and we were hit with an IRS tax settlement for $12,000. This has forced us to use our savings to make our monthly payments and has reduced our current savings to less than $1000. We have high deductibles on all of our insurances â€“ medical, dental, auto, home, etc. This amount of savings will not cover our expenses in the case of an emergency. Charging emergency expenses to credit cards will only continue to compound the problem of making timely payments.

My wife is scheduled to begin full time Nursing school in January 2011. This will require her to drastically reduce her work hours or even quit her current job. Nursing school is a minimum of two year commitment. With this reduction in income, making timely payments will be impossible. She does not receive any financial assistance with her education costs. Due to lack of savings, all of her education costs are financed with personal credit cards.

Our son will begin college in Fall 2012. With our lack of savings and no home equity to borrow against, we will have to rely on available scholarships and education loans to finance his education. He has also become more active in his school and community, that my wife and I are no longer able to meet his transportation needs. We recently purchased a car for his use adding to our monthly payments in auto loan payments, insurance and maintenance. In four years we will have to repeat this for our daughter.

irritated · Aug 19, 2010

Does this hardship letter sound okay?

To whom it may concern:

My name is ____ and my loan number is_____. My loan was originated/closed on August 2006 by Sebring Capital, then transferred to WAMU, then to your company. Under those terms, I have a rate of 9.5% which is an interest only adjustable rate mortgage. Under our current terms our Principle and Interest payment is $2639.18 (including taxes and escrow, but not including $55 insurance and $64 HOA's) which is completely unaffordable by our family with respect to our income and secondary credit obligations. Our total loan amount is $305,000, and current approximate home value is $220,000. My intent is to lower our payment by decreasing our interest rate and partially forgive principal. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com

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The reason we are in the situation of not being able to pay for this mortgage is my wife was put on a shared work program with her employer in January 2009 reducing her income by over 40%, then in January 2010 she was permanently laid off. She then took up unemployment. This unemployment will expire in 2 weeks. This reduction will put our PITIA at 45% of our mortgage payment. We have no savings left, and credit cards are now maxed out. We will not be able to make our September payment, but desperately want to save our first home. Iâ€™m not sure what I would tell our kids if we were foreclosed to be honest. I do have a good, consistent job with local government that I have been employed at for over 5 years and been in the industry for over 12 years.

I thank you for your understanding in this difficult time and trust that we will be able to reach a solution for all parties involved. Again thank you and to the recipient of this message, have a wonderful day. <o

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Moe Bedard · Aug 20, 2010

I think this letter is perfect. Great job!

Scuba44 · Aug 31, 2010

I have been following this thread for months now and crafted the perfect (I think) hardship letter based on all the suggestions I found here. I've been "working" (ie: re-writing letters and faxing documents) for 8 months now and I just got our second decline for a modification. The agent on the phone told me off the record that it's because we're not behind in our payments. I am trying to be proactive as I don't want our credit completely destroyed. The agent told us that Fannie Mae underwrites our particular loan and that the ONLY criteria for a modification included a divorce, the loanholder becoming disabled, etc. Losing a job and not finding suitable employment (which is what happened to us) does not even factor into the equation according to Chase Manhattan.

I'm not sure what to do now...our payment is $907 and with our son's disability SSI payment we are only making $900/month. The home is worth approx. $180k and we owe $100k. It's crazy for us to walk away from this place and so far we have been begging, borrowing, and stealing (almost) to make the monthly payment. I explained in the letter that we cannot keep this up and would be missing payment very soon. I really need advice on what I can do to get them to talk to me about a modification.

Chris Sorensen · Aug 31, 2010

If You're Not Late...

...the chances of a modification are not good. Not impossible, but not likely. The fact that you are not behind and you have equity means the Master Servicer has zero incentive to assist you when they are dealing with 7 million plus borrowers who are currently behind on their mortgage and also asking for help.

ca4523 · Aug 31, 2010

First time writing, many hours reading...trying to understand this mess. Your last statement Chris S....is that really true?
We are not late, but paying by selling assets, etc. We are small business owners of 25 years and are caught up in the slow economy, not bad decision making..it's a miracle we are still in business(no profits for 3 years). We have a jumbo loan, readjusting 10/2011, which we will never be able to handle, we can't handle our current interest only loan originating 2006.
We have just been denied due to "too many assets"...they looked at our bank statement after selling a car and other items that had to go to bills and the business...the account now shows a quarter of what Chase just quoted me were our assets!!!
Our hardships are Severe reduced income due to failing business, have 2 children still at home, one in college...we own the business together.
Should we go late to get their attention??

Scuba44 · Aug 31, 2010

That's what I thought...the bank could easily take this property and sell it to make the equity for themselves. So should I go ahead and miss a couple of payments to show them I am serious? I probably could continue to borrow my way into prosperity but I am burning bridges as we speak. Is there a government organization who oversees the loan modification program that I could appeal to? According to everything I have read, we qualify for this program but as you say, are getting no assistance from our lender.

azdoggie · Sep 1, 2010

Feedback please...

To Whom It May Concern:
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We are writing to request a short sale on our home and explain our hardship leading to imminent default. Our home was purchased in April 2006. I lost my job in May 2008 making $60,000/year. I received about $10,000 in severance pay that went into savings. I then found employment the following month making $42,000/year. This is a 28% decrease in income. In that time I have not received any pay increases other than the occasional bonus or overtime, both of which have been eliminated at my place of employment. During this time all monthly expenses have continued to increase and we were hit with an IRS tax settlement for $12,000. This has forced us to use our savings to make our monthly payments and has reduced our current savings to less than $1000. In effort to save, we have elected higher deductibles on all of our insurances â€“ medical, dental, auto, home, etc. This amount of savings will not cover our expenses in the case of an emergency. Charging emergency expenses to credit cards will only continue to compound the problem of making timely payments.
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My wife is scheduled to begin full time Nursing school in January 2011. This will require her to drastically reduce her work hours or even quit her current job to attend her classes and clinicals. Nursing school is a minimum of two year commitment. With this reduction in income, making timely payments will be impossible. She does not receive any financial assistance with her education costs. Due to lack of savings, all of Hereducation costs are financed with personal credit cards.
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Our son will begin college in Fall 2012. With our lack of savings and no home equity to borrow against, we will have to rely on available scholarships and education loans to finance his education. He has also become more active in his school and community, to which my wife and I are no longer able to meet his transportation needs. We will need to purchase a car for his use, which will add to our monthly payments in auto loan payments, insurance and maintenance.
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All these issues have put a strain on our budget and feel that we are in danger of imminent default on our loan. We believe our only options are Short Sale or Foreclosure, and that for the benefit of all concerned we are seeking the approval for a Short Sale.

ccool322 · Sep 3, 2010

Need hardship letter feedback please

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCHRIST%7E1.STO%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C07%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com<img src=" http:="" www.loansafe.org="" images="" smilies="" redface.gif="" border="0" alt="" title="Embarrassment" smilieid="2" class="inlineimg"></o:smarttagtype> RE: Short sale hardship letter for
Loan #0148xxx, 18 <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city> St, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1>Trenton</st1>

</st1:city>, NJ 08611
Loan #0148xxx, 41 Beatty St, <st1>

<st1:city w:st="on">Trenton</st1:city></st1>

, NJ 08611
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Dear Wells Fargo Associate:
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This letter is a request for your cooperation in a short sale of my 2 rental properties. There has been a significant reduction in my financial situation since I purchased these investment properties. I am a sales rep and have suffered greatly by the economy where my commissions have all but disappeared compared to prior years. This year my total commission will be $30-35K less than prior years.
I can no longer afford to keep these properties afloat. The property values in <st1>

<st1:city w:st="on">Trenton</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">NJ</st1:state></st1>

have plummeted in the last 4 years. I paid approximately $125k for each of them, and now they are only worth in the range of $40-50K each. I owe over $90k on each of them & cannot afford to pay the difference in whatâ€™s owed & what I can sell them for. I have contacted a local realtor who specializing in <st1>

<st1:city w:st="on">Trenton</st1:city></st1>

properties to help me out of this mess: Paul Margar, Buy This House, LLC.
The turnover rates and length of vacancies in <st1>

<st1:city w:st="on">Trenton</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">NJ</st1:state></st1>

have dramatically increased, to where I can hardly keep a tenant in the homes for a year. Likewise, the rent rates have decreased. Every time a family moves out, I have had to spend upwards of $10k to renovate the properties to re-rent them, only to have them destroyed yet again in under 12 months. During the renovation I also have managed to keep the mortgages current, but can no longer see a way to continue this. I can no longer afford to do this, as my personal savings is dried up, as well as my personal income level dropping.
I have a primary home, that I pay approx $2745/month in mortgage to Wells Fargo (Loan #0180xxx) + bills to maintain the household. My bi-weekly take home is $1500 net. Total take home pay with $800 commission is approximately $3800 to sustain my primary home, where I am barely getting by.
These 2 rentals have caused me great financial hardship, to where I worry about my primary homeâ€™s mortgage now. I have no other alternative but to sell the 2 â€œinvestmentâ€ properties to end the continual repair bills, turnover rate, vacancies, lost rent, unpaid rent, water bills, increasing taxes, property management fees, etc. I have 1 tenant moving out the end of this month & the other tenantâ€™s lease is expiring in October, which will leave me with both homes vacant & no rent money coming in to cover the mortgages, in addition to having to spend at least $10k each to renovate for re-renting. I cannot afford to do any of this and am forced to sell them.
I am deeply disappointed & embarrassed by this situation & would like to avoid the further humiliation of a negative connotation of foreclosure. I have been a loyal, on-time paying customer of Wells Fargo for nearly 20 years and regret this situation more than you know.
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Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter,

jose06 · Sep 10, 2010

Hi I'm new and need advice on my hardship letter to B O A

To whom it may concern:

As per your request I am submitting this letter of hardship to explain the conditions that have caused me to become delinquent with my loan. I have done everything in my power to prevent falling behind in payments, but unfortunately I have fallen short and would like you to consider working with me to modify my loan. My number one goal is receive an opportunity to keep my home.

The reason for my delinquency was due to a tragic event. On August 1st 2007 at 10:55 am, my mother, Claudette, died in the hospital from blood clotting in her leg. We both occupied the home and jointly paid bills. Her income was supporting and assisting in maintaining the house hold. I never thought that she would have passed away and did not have any preparations planned for her death. The cost of the funeral drained all of my savings and reserves which were budgeted along with her income to cover the mortgage and expenses. The income reduction and increase of monthly bills have created extreme hardships for me.

Before my mother passed away in August 2007, I was never late with payments. Another reason that I fell behind in the payments and was not able to afford the payments any longer was due to the fact that obtaining steady work became difficult and in turn I was essentially unemployed so I enrolled full time in College.

The situation has gotten better because I will be graduating this year from College. My wife Veron has joined together with me, helping to pay some of the monthly expenses. In addition, I am receiving contributions of $1200.00 from Charles who also resides in the house. I am in the process of obtaining my cab license and expect to be working in a month or two with taxi cabs. I am also paying off credit cards which will allow me to reduce monthly expenses. I am on a balanced billing plan with my energy providers and recently have lowered my energy cost by 8%. I would appreciate if you can work with me to lower the delinquent amount owed and or payment so I can keep my home and afford to make amend with your institution.

Sincerely and Respectively,

peggy66 · Sep 13, 2010

Please give feed back on this. Thank you....

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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 our home and we would really appreciate the opportunity to do that.
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The main reason is because of my job loss on Nov. 4<SUP>th</SUP> 2008. My husband had been ill with heart trouble. We have since been on track to being able to pay the mortgage. We however are behind on payments and would like to work out a solution to remain in our home. If we lose our home we lose our business and could not live anywhere in essence we very well would become homeless.
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We would like to work out something with a modification that would enable us to pay our obligation to you. Our house value has declined well below of what we owe. We cannot refinance on our own. We just want to work out a solution to remain in our home and maintain our business and I can get permanent work.
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You stated before that we were qualified by every means, that we were denied, as the investor does not allow modifications to the loan. I talked with the investor Nova Star and they said they indeed do modifications and they infact gave you power of attorney to do modifications to my loan.
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Please help us to stay in our home. We are asking for a little help and a lot of forgiveness.
We look forward to working out a solution and to be able to meet our obligations to you.
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Sincerely and Respectfully<O</O

phatplat · Nov 19, 2010

Hello, I currently have a FHA loan and owe I think 215K on it, my house is worth maybe 150. I have a 6.75% interest rate and good credit (mid 7's). I have the PMI as well for 200 a month. My total mortgage is 1886.00 and it's killing me. I cannot refinance and I also cannot afford to fix up my house because I do not have any credit cards. I am curious as to what to do. I have a "packet" that I got from my mortgage company and one of the peices is a hardship letter. I have various medical conditions that are expensive, but I pay my mortgage on time every month and have not missed a payment. I am wondering what I can write in this hardship letter that would get me help!?

Moe Bedard · Nov 19, 2010

Hello,

99% chance they will not offer you help until you are late on your mortgage. So, whatever you place in it will probably do you no good. You may have to make a choice sooner or later to be late or just be in pain from your mortgage as well until you pay it in full.

TomEason · Nov 20, 2010

While the info on hardship letter is very useful, my recommendation to loan mod applicants, is "don't spend a lot of time and effort on it." I've been informed that servicers don't read at all, or at least not carefully; they check to see that one's included and not much else.

newtothisonatl · Nov 21, 2010

In addition to the hardship letter and all the other paperwork, my lender is asking for a 2010 Profit and Loss statement as I am self employed (as a realtor). For the purpose of the loan mod, is it better to show a profit or loss. I apologize if the is the wrong way to ask - I am new to forums. Thanks!

TomEason · Nov 21, 2010

newtothisonatl said:

Since you're self employed a P&L is absolutely required, so you need to submit one. P&L Statements aren't difficult to produce. However, the loan servicer will cross reference the P&L with your bank statements. The challenge is, obviously, to have sufficient deposits into your account to support your gross revenue representation on the P&L. Good luck!

azhaze1 · Nov 29, 2010

I have a second with Citibank in AZ. it is for 28,000 fixed. My home value has shot down over 100 K and I have decided to walk after BofA has refused to negotiate any type of modification. I have not paid my first or second for two months now. Citi told me that i can contact their settlement dept and give them a letter of hardship and make an offer. I am a bit confused on what I could list as my hardship aside from the poor neighborhood with vacant houses surrounding me and the fact that I am so underwater. What should I write in my letter and what is Citi generally accepting for a settlemtn, I heard 15% Thanks for any advice

den372 · Dec 2, 2010

Hi I was wondering if anyone could provide any suggestions to our hardship letter. Any input appreciated

Name: ( )
Address: ( )
Lender Name: (Bank of America)
Loan #: (your Loan #)

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 tried 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 our home and we would really appreciate the opportunity to do that.

The main reason that caused us to be late was an ongoing illness in our family. My mother recently underwent surgery to remove an abdominal aortic aneurism. The aneurism was located about two inches from her heart. While the surgery was successful she has suffered post surgery complications exacerbated by her age (80 years) and her health. We initially started with full time nursing in house convalescence. Unfortunately this became extremely cost prohibitive. I am a research scientist for the department of the Navy and have worked there for 23 years. I decided to take leave without pay (LWOP) from my job to spend time with her and care for her.

My wife works at Mary Washington Hospital in the international radiology department. She has worked there for 16 years. Our rational was that we could make it on her income during this critical time. We had hoped in a reasonable period of time my mother would recover to a satisfactory state and I could return to my job. Unfortunately this has not been the case.

These unfortunate events have caused us to fall behind on our mortgage. Prior to this event we had never missed or been late on a payment. All our credit cards have zero balances (currently) and we only have one car payment of $222.00. Our youngest daughter is type one diabetic. It has been very important to keep our health insurance in force while paying many of the out of pocket expenses associated with this disease. I secured an advance on my 401k retirement annuity to help with expenses but this is now close to depletion.

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. I believe this hardship circumstance to be a temporary condition. We feel that a loan modification would be vital to mitigate our current financial crisis. We would appreciate if you would consider to work with us to lower our delinquent amount owed and/ or payment so we can keep our home and also afford to make amends with your company.

We truly hope that you will consider working with us and we are anxious to provide any documents or information you might need.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Borrowers Signature

Co-Borrowers Signature

Examples of a Hardship Letter

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