Since the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) was introduced by the federal government in March of this year, struggling homeowners have been trying to get relief on their mortgage payment from their mortgage lender. HAMP was established in an effort to modify loans for homeowners who are behind on their mortgage or struggling to stay current on their payments.

Everyone is aware of loan modification companies that charge upfront fees to homeowners only to never work on their clients’ loans or even worse, the company disappears altogether. The warnings to stay away from these modification companies come from everyone ranging from President Obama to the media ranting about it on a daily basis.

However, no matter how many times people are told not to pay a company thousands of dollars in upfront fees to handle their modification, people do it anyway. Homeowners are desperate for help and these companies prey upon individuals with promises that sound too good to be true. The only thing that is true is the deception taking place when these modification companies make these guarantees and false promises. What homeowners need to understand is that if they are talking to a modification company that charges upfront fees, they are talking to a salesperson who is trying to convince them to use their services. The only guarantee that can be made with reasonable certainty is this salesperson has never personally modified a loan in their life. Their job is to sell and judging by the millions of people who have been scammed, these salespeople are selling a lot of people on false guarantees.

Homeowners who need help want real solutions because everyone is telling them what to do with no degree of certainty. If you can’t trust these companies, most homeowners think they have no option which is simply not true. For whatever reason, homeowners do not want to do the modification on their own. The thinking is that the lenders will take advantage because homeowners don’t know what they are doing.

However, there are guides available to homeowners that specialize in how to get your modification approved under the HAMP. That being said, you have to make sure the guide you access also comes with phone support from modification consultants. This is the key ingredient when you are looking to modify on your own. It is true that homeowners might follow a guide and get lost but if they can utilize phone support and review their modification with an experienced modification consultant, then the process should be easy.

It is senseless to pay a company thousands of dollars when you can do it on your own. For people who have tried it on their own with no success, there are guides available that will show you how to avoid the same errors that led to the rejection of your modification application by your lender. Once again, you want to make sure the company offers phone support to make sure you are clear on what you need to do. It’s very similar to taking a test in school. If you knew the material then you were confident when you were taking the exam. A loan modification is no different. If you follow the steps and there is phone support to clarify exactly what you need to do then you put yourself in a good position for an approval.

Keep in mind that no matter who does the modification for you, whether it is a modification company or you do it on your own, you still have to get all of your income and asset documentation together. If you get this documentation together anyway then there is no reason you should not at least attempt to do the modification on your own. If you’ve already tried and failed with your lender, utilize a company’s phone support to see if it even makes sense for you to try again because maybe your just not a good candidate. More than likely, if you are having trouble with your payment, you probably made some correctable errors on your application that should result in an approval the second time around.