Meet with a Nonprofit Housing Counseling Agency

Florida's housing counselors can help you with options for reducing your mortgage burden and can help you communicate with your lender. They want to help. Remember, the sooner you make the courageous decision to call for help, the more they can do to help you right your financial ship.

What to expect

First and foremost, expect to speak with a respectful, non-judgmental counselor who wants to help you. After an introduction and an explanation of the counselor's role in the process, you will be asked about the reason you called. When it comes to discussing finances revolving around foreclosure, complete honesty is the best policy. The clearer the picture of your financial situation, the better equipped the counselor is to help you deal with it. After the counselor accurately restates your challenge, you will lay out goals together, and you will receive recommendations on how to accomplish those objectives.

What to have ready

Have a list of the major bills you pay every month at hand when you call. Chief among these should be your mortgage payment statement complete with your mortgage loan number. Having these items will help the counselor build an accurate assessment of your financial situation.

Things you should know

Homeowner's HOPE provides free counseling - they do not do refinancing, down payment assistance or provide loans. But they can connect you with local nonprofit resources that provide different kinds of assistance.

Although they have an excellent working relationship with many of the nation's largest mortgage companies, they cannot force a mortgage company to eliminate debt, forgive payments or dictate solutions.

If you cannot get a timely appointment or cannot travel to a counselor's office, a free and confidential telephone counseling option is available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week from the national HOPE hotline at 1-888-995-HOPE (1-888-995-4673.) They can also be reached at http://www.995hope.org/.