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Hi,
I purchased this house when i was single, and never added my husband to the loan, so the house is in my name. however, i do not have a job, and rely on his income (though its not much) to pay the mortgage. I do some freelance work that brings in some money every once in awhile. Since the loan is just in my name, the bank (Indymac) said they only wanted to see my financial info. I thought, do i just consider the amount that my husband pays for bills as income for me, like i am charging him rent? I have no idea. I called them back and they said to submit his stuff too, and they’ll consider his income as part of mine. Does this sound right?

Here is my letter. I hope i get the loan mod, as we are 3 months behind right now. Any constructive criticism?

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To Whom it may Concern,
I am writing this letter to explain my unfortunate set of circumstances that have caused me to become delinquent on my mortgage.

When I first purchased this condo in Dec of 2005, I was single and technically unemployed. I had just opened my own business (photo studio) but I did not have a steady income. However, I had some money in savings due to an inheritance which allowed me to put a large down payment and qualify for the loan. In 2006, i got married to my husband, who was employed at the time, and we were mainly living off of his income and my savings. I continued to work on my business but unfortunately, I had to close the studio in 2007 due to not making any profit. I took a major loss when I closed the business.

Shortly afterward, my husband was laid off and I was using my savings (and eventually my 401K from a previous employer) to pay all of my bills. I did have some freelance work, but I was new to that type of work, so it was slow coming in. To make things even more difficult, the mother of my husbands daughter left town, leaving us with full custody of the 6 year old (a blessing, truly) but with no child support, and no help with her medical bills. (She had an undiagnosed condition that required a lot of appointments and exams that were expensive and not fully covered by insurance). I rely on my husbands income to pay bills so this did affect our entire household. My husband returned to a previous employer but was later laid off again, and unemployed for almost 6 months straight, up until earlier this year.

To sum it up, over the last 3 1/2 years, my husband has been laid off twice and I closed the doors to my business. My savings is gone, and I used most of my 401k to make ends meet. We have sought financial help from family members but we honestly can not ask for much more from them. I have set up a payment plan with my credit cards in order to get back on track. Unfortunately, I have fallen further and further behind and would like you to consider working with me to modify my loan. My number one goal is to keep my home and I would really appreciate the opportunity to do that. It is my full intention to pay what I owe and to be on time with all future payments.

My situation has gotten better because our family income has become more steady. I now work freelance as a web designer and production artist and have many clients. My husband was recently hired full time with a small but successful company, and recently got a raise. His employer has even hired me (part time/freelance) for some design work. Fortunately for us, this company has not seen any slowdown due to the economy. I feel a loan modification will benefit both of us, and our daughter. I would appreciate if you can work with me to lower my monthly payments, and possibly the delinquent amount, so I can keep my home.

I truly am looking forward to you working with me and I am anxious to get this settled so we all can move on.

Sincerely and Respectfully,
etc etc…