How to File a Loan Modification Yourself

Learn how to conduct your own mortgage modification.

While you can hire a real-estate attorney or modification company to file a loan modification for you, you can also file a loan modification for yourself. The key to successfully requesting and managing the loan modification is to start out and remain organized and to follow the instructions that the lender provides you to go through the process.

Things You'll Need

• Current mortgage information and paperwork

Instructions

1. Call the custome-service phone number listed on your mortgage statement and ask to speak with someone in the loss-mitigation department. The loss-mitigation department is the area that handles mortgage modifications.

2. Explain to the mortgage-modification representative that due to a financial hardship you are requesting a mortgage modification and want a mortgage-modification package mailed to your home.

3. Make a note of the person you speak with, as well as the date and time of the call and what was discussed during the call.

4. Go through the list of paperwork and documents that comes with the modification package and make sure that you have everything. Documents include recent paycheck stub copies or a profit-and-loss statement for your business, tax returns for the past two years, bank statements for the last two months and all of your bill statements.

5. Write a hardship letter -- a formal request for a mortgage modification that states the financial hardship that has led you to request the modification. A financial hardship includes loss of a job, death of a primary breadwinner, chronic illness or a situation where your home value is less than the amount that you owe on your mortgage.

6. Completely fill out the modification application when it arrives. Read it carefully, complete each line on the application and put a check mark next to the documents or supporting information that you have to supply as you put the documents with the application to get it ready to mail.

7. Submit the modification package. If you mail the package, send it in a way that you can verify the delivery or with a return receipt.

8. Call the representative in the loss-mitigation department to confirm receipt of the application package. Make a note of the date and time of the call and what the representative says.

9. Contact the lender on a weekly basis to check on the status. Add the call information to your record of the calls.

References

• Delray Credit Counseling: 6 Steps to a Do-It-Yourself Loan Modification