Facts

• The federal government's Making Home Affordable program provides an online eligibility assessment for loan modifications at MakingHomeAffordable.com. Provided your mortgage loan is insured with either Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, your lender must provide you with modified loan terms if you qualify.
  
  

Features

• Even if you qualify for a government mortgage modification, you can contact your lender for additional information. If you don't know who your lender is, contact your loan servicing agent -- the institution you make your payments to -- to obtain that information. You will need to negotiate with the lender that currently holds you loan, which is not necessarily the same as the institution that initially wrote the loan, and is often not the same institution that services your loan. Keep in mind that, although not all lenders participate in Making Home Affordable, that doesn't mean that your lender won't offer you a loan modification application.
  
  

Considerations

• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development maintains a list of loan modification counselors on its website, hud.gov. These nonprofit counselors can answer your questions about renegotiating your mortgage and help you prepare for negotiations with your lender. Counseling programs are available regardless of whether you carry a Federal Housing Administration or conventional loan.