Are you in financial trouble? Are you facing a job loss, reduced work hours, retirement, illness, or a divorce? Before things get out of hand, you must takes steps now to prevent a foreclosure on your home. The sooner you act, the better your chances of saving your home. Here are some tips to help you safeguard your home and avoid foreclosure.

Contact your lender

Many homeowners make the mistakes of keeping their financial troubles to themselves by refusing to call their mortgage company. They feel embarrassed about their financial problems and worry that discussing them with their lender will speed up the potential foreclosure. The truth is, lenders want to help homeowners keep their home. Foreclosures are expensive for the lenders and they would much rather help the borrowers rather than rush into these proceedings.

Your mortgage company can help you come up with a plan to make sure you keep your home. However, these are easier to implement if you are only one or two payment behind on your loan. The longer you wait, the less options will be available to you and your lender. Don't make the mistake to think that you can fix your financial problems quickly and on your own. Call your mortgage lender as soon as you realize that you will not be able to make your payments. Beware though that lenders are under no obligation to help you however, most of them will be willing to explore various options.

You will have to provide the certain information to your lender when you contact them. They will require you loan account number, a quick explanation of your circumstances, a current income document such as pay stub or benefit statement, and a list of your household expenses. Be prepared to have multiple telephone conversations with your lender. You lender will mail you something called a loan workout package which will contain information, forms and various instructions. If you want to be taken seriously and considered for assistance, make sure you complete the forms and return them to your lender rapidly. The information you send them will be reviewed in details before a potential solution is discussed. This is why it is important to call as soon as you know you are in financial trouble.

Don't ignore correspondence from your lender

If you don't make the first step, your lender will try to reach you by phone or mail soon after you default on your payments. Do not ignore them. Their initial contact will be to offer help. Should your lender not be able to reach you, they will be forced to begin legal action against you. This is the road to foreclosure. Remember that once legal action has begun, it will cost you more to bring your loan current. Another reason not to delay.

Contact a housing counseling agency

You may not feel comfortable talking directly with your lender. In that case, you should contact a HUD-approved housing counseling agency to discuss your situation with a counselor. The housing counselor will be familiar with the different workout arrangements typically offered by lenders and can help you determine which course of action will be best for you. Your counselor can also call the lender with you or on your behalf to discuss a plan.

Once the contact has been made with the lender, your counselor will then help you prepare a monthly budget that will meet all your expenses, including your mortgage. This exercise will help map out how money you have available to put towards your mortgage. With this analysis, the mortgage lender can decide whether a delayed or reduced payment schedule could be of benefit to you.

The main thing to remember when you are financial with financial issues is to reach out for help. Your mortgage lender is not the enemy and more often than not, they will be willing to help you out to avoid having to foreclose on your home.