By Marcie Geffner • Bankrate.com
If you've been tempted to skip a few mortgage payments to try to convince your lender to modify your loan, you may want to resist that temptation. Whether your goal is to stave off foreclosure or just make your payments more affordable, experts say deliberate delinquency is not as smart an idea as it may seem.
The bottom line is that:
•If you can make your payment, you should do so.
•If you can't, you shouldn't.
•If you're in between, you should get help to assess your situation.
"Back in the day, (lenders) would only provide modifications to people who were significantly behind because that evidenced that they truly needed the loan modified. They were of that mindset, and they didn't realize the enormity of the problem," says Gail Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling in Silver Spring, Md. "But now, they've realized that the logic of making someone become delinquent and dig a deep financial hole before you help them was really not good for anyone."
Read on: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/should-you-skip-your-mortgage-payment-1.aspx