We hear of untold numbers of mortgage brokers who promise to help clients in foreclosure, but then string the clients along for months or nearly a year without telling the clients that they were turned down months ago.

One of the main questions we should ask is "Why do mortgage brokers have a hard time turning down clients who they have promised to help out of foreclosure?" There may be a number of reasons for this. The broker may be afraid of losing your trust or creating an enemy; no one wants to tell a customer that they are in danger of losing their home due to foreclosure. Also, most brokers know that their foreclosure clients put all their eggs in one basket and know that if they can not help, the foreclosure victim will have lost valuable time. Because of this, turning down a client who is in foreclosure becomes very tough for these brokers, many of whom have gained your trust.

These brokers use a number of tactics to string along their clients so that they do not have to turn them down. One of the main ones is to keep telling the clients that he is waiting on a particular piece of information. It may be from your lender, an underwriter, an attorney, or one of his managers or another broker. While some things do tend to move slowly in the mortgage industry, you should assume something is wrong if you can not get a straight answer from your mortgage broker.

Another tactic that brokers use is to not answer your calls or respond to your voicemails or emails. They may say they are out of the office or have been busy. Obviously, if a mortgage broker does not have enough time to work on your foreclosure loan, then you should seriously consider using another broker. In addition, you should wonder why your broker does not have the time to work on your file; it may very well be that you are not approved, and that since the broker will not make any money on the loan, he does not have the time work on your case any longer.

Here are some general guidelines on how to pick a mortgage broker who has helped clients in foreclosure refinance their homes.

-Give your broker a set period of time to approve you, and then move on if nothing is resolved. Don't just let your broker work on your loan forever; you know how much time you have before foreclosure, so don't let the broker keep working on the file. You should be able to get a pre-approval from a foreclosure lender within 3-5 business days after submitting a complete loan application.

-Don't rely just on a mortgage broker to help you out of foreclosure. If you're in danger of foreclosure, you need to examine every option possible to stop the foreclosure and save your home. You can't rely on any single option to help you. Call several brokers and shop around for the company that you think fits your situation and will best serve your needs.

-If you can no longer get in touch with your broker, then assume things have taken a turn for the worse. Most companies that can not help you will not take the time to tell you that they have turned your file down. Instead, they will stop taking your calls, send you to voicemail, and ignore your emails. If you do finally get through to someone, the news is usually not very good. So, if the lines of communication fail with your broker, then assume they have been unable to approve your foreclosure loan. Allow the possibility of being approved if they call you back, but you always have cause for concern if you can not get in touch with anyone.

-Do research on the brokers you choose; look up their parent company, check where they are licensed to do business, and ask for references.

We know that working with a broker can be difficult, but the rewards of getting a refinance out of foreclosure can be very great. A brand new loan to stop foreclosure that gives you a fresh start to rebuild credit can be the perfect solution for your situation. We only recommend using our members' area to locate trusted sources of loans to stop foreclosure, but you should do research on your own and pick a broker to work with very carefully.

In situations where additional time is needed to sell your home, or obtain alternate refinancing, you can be very successful in gaining an extra 30-90 days to complete your transaction. Generally, a pre-approval from a lender, or an executed sales contract must be presented to the lender and their attorneys for a postponement to be granted. Always remember to send your request directly to your lender, as well as the law firm they have hired to pursue the foreclosure against your home. This way you can make sure that all parties to the transaction have a copy of your request. Many banks are notoriously disorganized, and you don't want them to use the excuse that they never received your letter.

We have been successful literally hundreds of times in convincing lenders to postpone a sheriff sale or delay the filing of a foreclosure lawsuit. In fact, we have seen homeowners use our tactics that we have refined through years of testing and use (included in our stop foreclosure book) to postpone their sheriff sale for over a year beyond the original date. But even more importantly, we have successfully worked with lenders to postpone an eviction, after the sheriff sale, for several months past the “lockout date” while we assist the former owners in finding alternatives to being kicked out of their home.

Having a sale date is not the end of the world, but it is one of the most important steps of the foreclosure process. If at all possible, you want to get your sheriff sale postponed for as long as possible. Hopefully, this will give you the time you need to work out a permanent solution and never have to worry about foreclosure again.

If you're unsure how to request a postponement, please visit our other blog entries for more information, or consider reading our e-book to view example letters that we have written. These letters have been successful for vast numbers of our clients to stop foreclosure. Ultimately, the decision to postpone the sale is in your lender's hands, but a simple, sincere request in writing can go a long way in helping you gain extra time to solve the foreclosure and get back on track with your mortgage.

In your plan to stop foreclosure, working out a repayment plan with your lender should be your first and best option. A workout program is designed to give you extra time to pay back the amount of money you are behind, while also making your regular monthly payment.

Relying on just this method of becoming current on your mortgage, however, should not be the only option you are pursuing. Negotiating an agreement with your lender may take several weeks, and you do not want to lose valuable time while waiting for a decision from your lender. Especially if they determine you do not qualify for a repayment plan, you want to work on several other options along with this one. You may also use the specific tactics that we have had success with in delaying your sheriff sale or reducing your payoff in conjunction with other options to save your home.

There are a variety of programs that you may qualify for that can help you get back on track with your mortgage. Some of them may be offered directly by your lender, others are offered by HUD (The US Department of Housing and Urban Development), the FHA (Federal Housing Administration), or VA (Veterans Administration). The most common programs are a forbearance agreement, mortgage modification, partial claim, pre-foreclosure sale, and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.