What are the elements of a good hardship letter?

If you cannot make your mortgage payments, the lender may be willing to allow you to temporarily put them into forbearance or may be willing to negotiate a deal with you where you temporarily pay a lower amount. To get the lender to agree to this, you'll have to prove why you need the change. You'll usually also have to show how you'll one day be able to get back on track. In order to negotiate such a deal, the best thing to do is send a hardship letter. If you plan to do this, knowing the elements good hardship letter is important.

A good hardship letter should contain:

• Detailed information on your current financial state
• An explanation of why you are requesting a hardship forbearance. For example, if you've lost your job, you can explain the temporary loss in income

You may also wish to include an explanation of what you are doing to resolve the hardship situation and get back on track, since a lender is a lot more likely to negotiate with you if they believe that some day they'll get all of the money owed to them.

A lawyer can help you to write your hardship letter, so you should strongly consider getting professional representation to have the best chance of success in writing the letter.