Today, most of us live from paycheck to paycheck. For me, one paycheck goes to pay the mortgage, and the other goes to pay the bills. I manage to save a little for retirement and put some in a savings account for major unexpected catastrophes. Does this sound familiar? We never know from day to day how our finances will be affected. What if there was no more paycheck? How would you survive? If you have a mortgage like me, we could easily lose our home to foreclosure. There are many reasons that could leave us forcing foreclosure, rising interest rates, unemployment, personal tragedy, health problems, or even a death in the family. Recently I ran across five testimonial letters from individuals that faced this problem. Each had their own heart wrenching story, of how foreclosure affected their life and how they overcame it. Allow me to share a portion of each of them with you:

Maria from Miami, Florida explained..." Owning a home is one of life's greatest accomplishments. And being faced with losing it is one of the most devastating and frightening experiences anyone can ever imagine."

Alonza from Tucson, Arizona said that "I was feeling as if it was the end of the world for me. I felt like I had hit rock bottom... My [poor] health caused me to get behind on my mortgage and I felt like I had no control from that point on. The more I tried to get caught up, it seemed like I could never get ahead."

Lori from Columbus, Ohio told of how her husband Doug had been laid off and they were 2 months behind on their mortgage.

Tod from Alpharetta, Georgia explained that he started receiving nasty phone messages from his mortgage company. They were threatening to foreclose on his home unless he paid off the entire mortgage! Because he was late, they had accelerated his whole mortgage and that he had no way of paying that.

Hazel and Trey from Riverside, California were living in their very first home. Trey explained "As new homebuyers, we probably bit off a little more than we could chew. So, when our baby came along, things got tight and we fell behind on our bills including our mortgage."

Fortunately, there are ways to save your home and there are companies out there that can help, many in a judgment free manner and with a level of humanity and compassion.

Below is just a short list of the most common ways to stop foreclosure:

1) Reinstatement Plan.

2) Repayment Plan.

3) Loan Modification.

4) Loan Restructuring.

5) Loan Refinance.

6) Forbearance Agreement.

7) Redemptions

8) Partial Claim.

9) Pre-Foreclosure Sale.

10) Short Sale.

11) Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure.

Faced with losing your home can be devastating. Life's pressures are extreme in today's world and foreclosure is an added pressure that I hope we never have to encounter.