Has your mortgage lender been pressuring you over house payments that are overdue? You may only be 2 or 3 months behind, but your mortgage lender has already threatened you with foreclosure. You are by no means alone in this situation. In today's difficult economy, many homeowners are in the same boat.

You may have gotten into this predicament because of an unforeseen financial difficulty or the loss of your employment. Whatever the reason, it is possible to stop foreclosure fast, if you take the appropriate action.

You will need to communicate quickly once you have been notified by your lender that your payments are in arrears. The sooner that you proceed to work with the lender, the more likely it is that they will cooperate with you.

There are a variety of ways in which you can stop foreclosure fast. If your financial problem was temporary, and you now have adequate income, a forbearance agreement might be the easiest solution. If your lender agrees to a forbearance agreement, you would probably have to pay a part of the overdue payments up front, and the rest over a period of the next several months. This type of arrangement does not work well for most borrowers, because the make-up payments are in addition to their regular monthly payments. However, if your income is high enough to handle the extra burden for a few months, this is the fastest way to resolve the problem and get caught up.

Other available options to stop foreclosure fast include signing a deed in lieu of foreclosure, obtaining a short refinance loan, selling your home on a short sale, or qualifying for a loan modification agreement, or modification of mortgage

Most borrowers prefer a loan modification agreement over the other options we have discussed, simply because it results in reduced house payments. This requires a permanent change in your mortgage terms whereby your mortgage lender either agrees to reduce the interest rate on the loan, or they extend the total repayment period so that your monthly payments are brought down to a level that you can afford.

Loan modifications, or modification of mortgage, have become very popular. The good news is that thousands of homeowners have taken advantage of a loan modification agreement to save their home from foreclosure. The bad news is that, most lenders now have a ponderous backlog of non-performing home loans, and can be slow to respond to your calls and letters.

Understandably, many distressed homeowners are frustrated in their efforts to negotiate a loan modification agreement. It is not uncommon for them to be passed along from one lender's representative to another. They may be speaking to a different employee each time they call. The problem is that most of the people you talk to are reading from a script, telling you to send X dollars. They might tell you to send a payment, and lead you to believe that everything is OK, but they don't actually have the authority to make an agreement with you. You may find that, after sending in the payment you were told to, the banker continues with foreclosure proceedings anyway.

Best-case scenario is that you actually speak to someone in authority and succeed in negotiating a loan modification agreement. You then enter the next phase which can be a rather lengthy one . This will involve submitting all the required documentation, reviewing, notarizing and executing new loan documents, and then overseeing the transaction through escrow until closing.

Depending on your temperament and amount of time available to deal with all of this, you might find it's more feasible to get assistance from a loan modification expert. These professionals have experience in dealing with most of the mortgage lenders. They know who to contact with the authority to negotiate an agreement. They have the expertise to go to bat for you in negotiations with your banker, possibly saving you thousands of dollars over the life of your loan. There is the added benefit of the peace of mind you will enjoy, knowing that all the important details of the transaction are being handled by a knowledgeable professional. The end result is that they stop foreclosure fast.