If you're like most people, then you probably have the tendency to associate the purchase of a home with achieving the ultimate "American dream." Unfortunately, there are times when that "dream" has the potential to turn into an utter nightmare. In the event you come across financial difficulty over the life of your home loan and therefore become unable to make your monthly mortgage payments is a prime example of how the tables could turn.

The Last Thing on Your Mind

The truth of the matter is that you never consider the prospect of foreclosure when buying a home. You always think it will happen to the other guy. Unfortunately reality is you may be THE OTHER GUY. We never can anticipate what is going to happen. None of us buy a home with the idea that eventually we will be facing foreclosure. The truth is things happen in life that we often have no control over such as raising variable interest rates or a deprecating real estate market.

How does a foreclosure affect your credit?

There are some serious ramifications of having a foreclosure on your record. The main one is the fact that it does some heavy damage to your credit rating (which stays on for a lengthy period of time) and as a result, may greatly limit your options to buy another home in the future.

How can you prevent foreclosure?

Your first option is to try to talk to your mortgage broker. While it's fairly common to express some reluctance as a result of feeling embarrassed about discussing your financial problems, financial difficulty is nothing to be ashamed of and should be voiced to your lender. Keep in mind that lenders are not out to get their hands on your home, rather it's more work on their part to re-sell properties once they have been foreclosed. The more you procrastinate speaking with your lender about your mortgage payments, the harder it will be to find an adequate solution.

You have a few options

• An option you might want to consider as a way to prevent foreclosure is mortgage forbearance.  This option is typically used in the case of short term financial problems. Mortgage forbearance enables you to temporarily stop having to make payments.

You need to keep in mind that with forbearance is that the interest on your loan continues to accumulate even while you are relieved of payments. Once the forbearance period comes to an end, you are once again obliged to make full payments on your home loan.

• Mortgage modifications allow you to adjust the terms of your mortgage. There are typically three different types of adjustments that can be made under a mortgage modification.

• Lower interest payments - by changing your variable interest loan into a fixed lower rate mortgage you can lower your monthly payments.

• Extended terms - this will lower your payment but will also increase the amount of interest you pay over the life of your loan.

• Reduced premium - This will decrees the total amount of the loan but is not common and the terms of monthly payments may be more difficult to handle then the payments associated with the other two options.

Whether you should decide to apply for forbearance or a mortgage modification you should hiring a reputable mortgage negotiator to represent you and you should NEVER PAY ANY IN ADVANCE TO REPRESENT YOU.

Discover how you can ethically modify your home mortgage loan and save as much as 47% off your current mortgage payment in as little as 60 days without refinancing? For your FREE CD, FREE e-book, and FREE coaching call with Mortgage Modification Expert and Business Man of the Year Billy Alvaro visit our website Saint Jude's Mortgage Rescue