Help for homeowners who are struggling.

Homeowners will be given some assistance if they are close to foreclosure. Project Lifeline is an opportunity for those who are in the last stages of foreclosure to remain in their home.

If your house is worth a lot less you may just walk away from it. This is not an issue that has been addressed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Although it is an important issue, no one has a solution for it. If you know that your home is worth 250,000 but have a loan for $300,000 or more and see that the current value of your home is dropping daily, you may walk away.

Under the latest plan the lenders promise to seek contact with homeowners who are 90 or more days overdue on their mortgages. In some cases, homeowners will be given the chance to “pause” their foreclosure for 30 days while lenders try to work out a way to make the loans affordable. Lenders could begin sending letters to these borrowers as soon as this week.

Homeowners wouldn’t qualify for the program if they are in bankruptcy, if they already have a foreclosure date within 30 days or if the loan was for an investment or vacant property.

What happens to those folks who choose to foreclose by choice or made a bad investment?

There are no solutions for these problems. Project Lifeline is aimed toward people who have a home they are currently living in and will help people who have prime and subprime mortgages.

This step is aimed at helping ease Congressional criticism about the mortgage crisis. Even though leaders wanted more people to be able to afford homes, the easy access to credit allowed people to purchase a home who probably shouldn’t have. Now people are sinking.

It is not easy to get out of this situation because there may be people who have subprime mortgages who are making their payments and people with prime mortgages who aren’t for different reasons. A bad credit history doesn’t mean that you won’t pay your bills and a good credit history doesn’t mean that you will pay. Situations change, people have other expenses or losses that may make a difference.

People who invested in a property thinking that they could make some fast money or people who have already moved out of the property or who are already in foreclosure.

The best thing to do is to make your mortgage payment and pay your property taxes. If you cannot do that, before you just abruptly stop, call your mortgage company and see what you can work out. If you pay your own taxes, make sure you can get the money to pay your taxes, if not, make an arrangement to do so.

When you see something, say something… when you see you are in trouble contact your mortgage lender immediately for a proactive approach to your problem.

No problem? Great but pay attention to the number of foreclosures in your area which have an effect on the price and value of your home.