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Foreclosure Help: Sallie Mae Creates User-Friendly Foreclosure Website

The implosion of the housing market in 2008 resulted in a tidal wave of home foreclosures. As homeowners continue to face the prospect of home foreclosure, they’ve looked to the Internet for advice. However, much of this advice is biased or just plain wrong.

In order to fill this information gap, Sallie Mae, a quasi-governmental agency that helps set lending standards for most types of mortgages, has started a home foreclosure help website called KnowYourOptions.com.

According to a report in the New York Times, features of the website include:

• All information on the site is offered in both Spanish and English. This is particularly helpful because many Hispanic borrowers were targeted by lenders of subprime loans in 2005 and 2006.
• The site includes testimonials from a wide range of people who have dealt with the prospect of home foreclosure.
• Every section of the site includes a link to calculators that allow people to determine whether they are eligible for help from a debt counselor. After calculating their own payment information, many consumers feel more confident when dealing with their mortgage companies.
• The site doesn’t promise to save everyone from foreclosure. However, in the event that you are forced to leave your home, it offers practical tips on how to handle that process.
• Finally, the site offers detailed video tutorials on how to deal with specific steps in the mortgage process.

Your Home and Mortgage

Since securing a home mortgage can be a complicated process, it’s helpful to do research on the topic to gain confidence in your ability to get a fair loan.

Key items to consider when looking for a home mortgage include the following:

• Carefully review both the offered interest rates and related fees. Make sure to ask your lender how high your monthly payments will be.
• Try to avoid loans that threaten harsh pre-payment fees. Such fees can limit your ability to refinance your loan, and can make the overall loan more expensive.
• Get quotes from several different lenders. Home loans are made in a very competitive marketplace, so take advantage of the presence of multiple lenders and find the best possible deal for you.
• Check your credit score and credit report before filing for a loan. This will prevent any unwanted surprises.

Remember, a home mortgage will likely be the biggest financial decision you ever make, so take your time and don’t settle for a lousy deal!

Of course, even carefully plotted home mortgages can become burdensome if you’ve recently lost your job or experienced huge medical expenses. In the event of a financial emergency, it may be helpful to contact a local personal bankruptcy lawyer.