From your servicer’s perspective, if you, the borrower, abandons your property, or the servicer forecloses on you, the servicer will most likely lose a higher amount of money than if the servicer had worked with you to keep the property. You can contact the servicer before you are late on your payments, or after you are late. The amount of foreclosure help the servicer offers depends on your servicer and your particular case.
For foreclosure help you should first contact your servicer to see if they will work with you to keep your property. If you are late on payments because of a temporary hardship or long term hardship, the servicer often will work with you to establish a forbearance plan or other payment plan to repay your late payments. Additionally, the servicer can sometimes offer interest rate adjustments Examples of interest rate adjustments are switching your adjustable rate mortgage (or ARM) to a fixed rate mortgage, or lowering the interest rate you pay. The servicer can provide foreclosure help by stalling foreclosure while you work with them on payment plans.
If you no longer desire own the property, the servicer can also permit you to sell your property for less than you owe the mortgage company and then the servicer will write off the difference. This is called a short sale. This will sometimes let you get out of a property you do not want without having to endure the hassles of foreclosure. Once again, the servicer will be willing to provide you with this foreclosure help because it saves them money in the long run.
As stated, the amount of foreclosure help provided by the servicer depends on your income and if you desire to keep the property.