Many homeowners who are facing financial hardship due to job loss, illness, or mortgage interest rate adjustment have picked up their phone and called their mortgage lender to try and get a loan modification. If you have a lender who is prepared and motivated to work with borrowers in your situation, this initial call can go very well and result in the mortgage lender sending you the details of their mortgage modification programs. In this case, after you've completed and returned their paperwork -- and provided you're accepted -- you'll receive an offer from someone in their mortgage modification or loss mitigation department. At that point, it's just a matter of negotiating with the lender to get the best possible terms, and your modification will be complete.

Unfortunately, many loan modifications don't go as smoothly as the best case scenario described above. Often, homeowners hit roadblocks almost immediately upon calling their lender's toll-free phone number: finding the right person to speak with can be a real challenge, since customer service is seldom helpful in these cases. Once you find the right department, you may be told that your lender doesn't have any programs to help homeowners in your area or circumstances, or that you don't qualify for one of a thousand arbitrary reasons.

Assuming you do manage to find the right department and convince them to send you their modification paperwork, anxious weeks will likely pass between your returning the paperwork and your receipt of a form letter response from your lender. Ideally, your lender will have reviewed your paperwork and will offer you a modification. However, you may be in the same boat as thousands of other borrowers who have been denied a modification with nearly no information provided regarding the reasoning or rationale for the denial, and no way for you to appeal. Your subsequent calls back to the lender will start the process anew, only this time you'll be much more frustrated and will have wasted much valuable time. Simply put, you've hit a modification roadblock.

When faced with this situation, there are 5 tactics which can help you break through your roadblock and get the modification you need:

1) Polite persistence is key. Once you find the right department, write down the extension number or dial-by-number codes required to get directly to that department. Write down the names of everyone you speak to (and ideally get their direct phone numbers so you can call them back without going through the incoming call queue). Once you've found someone in the right department, keep calling once a week (or more) and check on the status of your filing, and inquire about any new programs which the lender is now offering: with the financial crisis deepening by the week, lenders are offering new programs for homeowners very frequently.

2) Don't take no for an answer. If you're getting shut down by customer service or the modification department, politely but firmly ask to speak to a supervisor. Customer service is notorious for telling you there's no one else to speak with, or asking you "what you'll tell the supervisor which is different." Don't get upset or flustered: simply reiterate that you need to speak with the person's supervisor. Eventually they'll transfer you.

3) Reach out -- and up -- for help. Many of us remember writing letters to Santa or the President in elementary school...well, it's time to dust off those skills! Using Google it's easy to find your State Representative, Senator, and local legislators. These politicians have entire departments which are devoted to helping constituents such as yourself get the help you need. It may take a number of phone calls but you might be pleasantly surprised at the results getting a politician on your side can bring. Consider sending them copies of everything you've sent to your lender to help make the case that you are serious and have really tried on your own.

4) Find the boss. If you are able to find out who your mortgage underwriter is (the party actually holding the mortgage note -- not just your mortgage servicer), contact them and ask for help. Often, your lender won't want to tell you who your underwriter is, so find the CEO or Vice President in charge or mortgages at your lender. Often times these executives will have a special customer service department ("Executive Customer Support" or some similar name) dedicated to helping people who have been unable to get satisfaction through the normal channels. Use Google to find lender's "secret customer service" number, email address, and mailing address, then appeal to them for help.

5) If all else fails, bring in the big guns. If you've tried your best to get help from your bank but haven't had success, or if you're tired of getting the run around, you should consider enlisting the help of a reputable loan modification company. Such companies may have attorneys on staff who can review your loan paperwork for errors by the lender, and they'll have professional negotiators who have the time and stamina to negotiate with the bank even if you've been denied before. Make sure you do your homework and research a company before making a final decision to work with any particular business.

However you proceed, the best way to guarantee a good result is to stay positive and be persistent!