Dan,
I am trying to write the Hardship Letter requested by my lender. Do you have any suggestions?
ANSWER:
Perhaps the most challenging task is writing the hardship letter. It forces you to put into words a summary of your life and current financial state - which usually is anything but pleasant.
The hardship letter is like baring your soul and no one wants to do it.
Your lender is going to require copies of all your bank statements, recent pay stubs, two year’s tax returns, and a financial worksheet. This is the financial data needed to prove hardship.
The hardship letter focuses on the details as to what happened in your life to create the problem. The hardship letter puts a face on the file.
For this reason, I recommend that your letter be HANDWRITTEN and no more than two pages in length. It should cover these issues:
- Briefly explain how your life was before you encountered the hardship.
- Then describe what happened to create the hardship. Everyone facing hardship knows exactly what triggered it. Go back to that date. It is not the date you ran out of savings, but rather the date that triggered the event that ultimately caused you to tap into your reserves in the first place. It may be the date of a divorce, an accident, an illness, relocation, or the loss of your job.
- Explain the steps you have taken minimize the impact of the hardship. Examples may be that the kids were pulled from private school, cancelled gym memberships, no more eating out, and vacation plans cancelled. Let your lender know that you have done your part to minimize the impact of the hardship and that you have done everything possible to avoid foreclosure.
- Explain that you now have run out of money and options. Say that you see no other option other than to possibly file bankruptcy, but that you are willing to do everything possible to avoid that embarrassment.
Close your letter by asking the lender to please consider the short sale offer on your property.
(copyright 2007 by Dan Forbes, All Rights Reserved)
A hardship letter is very important when having to deal with your lender. You need to make them understand what you’re going through is not easy, and that you the situation was unavoidable at the time. For more info on how to right a hardship letter take a look at my site http://www.foreclosuredoctoronline.com
Comment by Foreclosure Doctor Online — July 18, 2008 @ 11:17 am