How To Get Relief For Your Mortgage

There are several prerequisites to consider if you're a borrower who is paying on time and wants some kind of a break. The home in question must be your primary residence. And the banks generally need to have your mortgage on their books and not have sold it off to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac or someone else.

Then, the big question will be how financially strained you are. Perhaps your loan is about to adjust to a higher rate that is barely affordable -- or already has. Or maybe you live in a two-income household where one income has disappeared or fallen drastically because of reduced sales commissions. Or, possibly, you lied about how much money you were making when you applied for a mortgage back in 2006 when nobody bothered checking.

Whatever the reason, the bank wants to know your current debt to (pretax) income ratio. If your monthly household income is $10,000, the bank may consider you overburdened if you're paying more than $4,000 or so toward your housing costs, or 40 percent of your income. So don't bother trying to get a better deal if your percentage is down near 25 percent.

If you think you may qualify, then you need to figure out whom to talk to. You should expect that every major mortgage lender or servicer is utterly overwhelmed right now. Calling the 800 number on your bank statement may lead to long hold times or representatives confused about changing internal guidelines.

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