‘deferred payment’ takes on new meaning

‘deferred payment’  means to pay back a debt at some later date – i’m just wondering in how many ways i’m going to be paying – in blood? sweat? tears, for certain. it’s humiliating when you have to ask for help from the ones who got you into this mess – just sayin.

Letter of Hardship for Kalliste Edeen

From: Kalliste Edeen

To: First Franklin Loan Services
Mortgage Loan: ___________

Dear Creditor,

Since February of this year I have been experiencing financial difficulties due to layoff and subsequent unemployment.

After having my current financial situation carefully analyzed, I have concluded that it is no longer possible to comply with the original terms of the agreement. I have no choice but ask you for your help on avoiding the foreclosure of my family’s home.

I am writing this letter to explain my unfortunate set of circumstances that have caused us to become delinquent on our mortgage. I have done everything in my power to make ends meet but unfortunately I have fallen short and would like you to consider working with me to modify my loan. My number one goal is to keep our home and we would really appreciate the opportunity to do that.

Last year I enrolled in a pre-apprenticeship program to retrain as an electrician in the Solar Industry. I secured a job with SunEdison, a national solar company, in October 2008. I also applied for the Electrician’s Union (Local 48) in their September application process scoring 100 out of 357 applicants and awaited the opportunity to enter into their apprenticeship program. I continued to work into the winter of 2008 when a series of snow storms caused us to shut down our operations for days at a time leaving me with less and less income.  After January it became clear that the inability to obtain state and federal tax incentives severely hampered the company’s financial solvency. By February 2009, with the economy’s decline and the tax incentives gone, SunEdison laid off half of its workforce, me among them, only to completely fold as a company 2 months later. I requested and began receiving unemployment in February and awaited news from the Electrician’s Union. Yet, due to the nature of the Union, they enforced an apprenticeship freeze until that time which their current members were fully employed. I have been looking for work since February, but with Oregon’s unemployment rate hovering between 10 and 12%, I had little success in finding work in the construction field or my previous line of work as a child care provider.  As a single mother of two teenage sons, I applied for Food Stamps to help lower our overall bills. I have gone through Oregon’s Workforce Training Program and posted my resume on their sites. I struggled with paying my mortgage throughout the spring, so I sought and received help from family members and friends to cover my mortgage through June after which I simply could not make my mortgage payment and still feed my family and pay utilities. I became late in paying my mortgage. Soon after being late and our income not being nearly enough, we had fallen further and further behind. Now, it’s to the point where we cannot afford to pay what is owed to First Franklin. It is our full intention to pay what we owe. But at this time we have exhausted all of our income and resources so we are turning to you for help.

Our situation has begun to brighten since I have recently secured a job as an Administrative Assistant in a Naturopathic doctor’s office and I feel that a loan modification would benefit us both. We would appreciate if you can work with us to lower our delinquent amount owed and/or payment so we can keep our home and also afford to make amends with your firm.

Please understand that financial hardships can occur and many times it‘s not a choice. I deeply appreciate your help in this matter. If you have any questions, or need anything further from me, you can contact me at (503)___-____.

We truly hope that you will consider working with us in a timely manner as we are anxious to get this settled so we all can move on.

Sincerely and Respectfully,