Sample Hardship Letter
Provided by the National Consumer Law Center
(for illustration only; you must compose your own letter; this is only to show you what one might
look like)
Another first step is to send the investor a “hardship” letter. Again, it is best to get the help of a legal
advocate first. But you may not have enough time to get that help when you need it. So we have attached
a sample hardship letter and some pointers about what information to include in your letter, if you need to
write the letter yourself. It is better to try this on your own than to do nothing.
June 1, 2006
Darlene Smith
Loss Mitigation Specialist
ABC Mortgage Co.
1234 River Road
Milwaukee, WI 33333
RE: John and Joan Borrower
217 Lake Street
Otis, ME 12345
Account number: 98374092
Dear Ms. Smith:
[State what type of work-out plan you are seeking; see enclosure “Can I save my home from
foreclosure?”]
This letter is to support our application for a loan modification plan that will help us to get our
mortgage payments back on track with an affordable mortgage. We have lived in our home for over 20
years and we want to work hard and keep it.
[Explain any special hardship circumstances. Tell your story briefly but including important
points about the hardships you face. ]
Our youngest child is learning disabled and attends a special program at school. If we lose the
home we will probably have to move out of this school district. (There are few rental properties.) Our
doctor has said that moving is likely to disrupt our boy’s development.
[Explain what caused you to fall behind.]
We fell behind on our mortgage payments due to loss of income because of a lay-off. We had a
very hard time dealing with our debts because we never had financial problems before. There are so
many expenses and managing a home and family of 5 is hard.
John has been employed in the construction business for more than 20 years as a plasterer and
mason. He was laid off by his prior employer last September and his unemployment compensation was
only 60% of his prior income. Joan was able to increase her hours as a school aid as of December 1 to
make up part of the difference, but we were unable to make full mortgage payments for December
through April. Our partial payments were returned by you.
[Explain your plan for getting payments back on track. Convince the lender that you have a
plan that will work.]