short sale

Splitting up makes a mess of your finances, as Lynn, a nurse living in Florida knows all too well. Her 2008 divorce from her husband of 28 years left her in debt, with bad credit, and with limited financial skills. She's already begun to dig out, but she needs a better plan.

In the last few years, outreach events by banks and nonprofits have been held all over the country, offering help to distressed homeowners. But even when they get personal invitations to these events, the vast majority of people who need mortgage modifications or short sales aren't showing up.

Financial advice columnist Laura Rowley recently received an email from a homeowner who had negotiated a successful mortgage modification, but may end up as a short-sale candidate anyway -- because she can't finance home repairs. Her options are limited, but possible solutions do exist.

For anyone who has braved the housing market in the past four years, short sales have become synonymous with high risk and high reward. But with so many discounted properties on the market today, are they really worth a buyer's trouble? Maybe -- if you have a lot of time and a strong stomach.

Debt forgiveness – getting a company to write off a debt or let you pay less than you owed on a loan – might seem like a great thing at the time you do it. What cash-strapped consumer knee-deep in credit card debt wouldn't enjoy the financial relief of settling their debts for perhaps...

If you're having a problem with a business, Consumer Ally can help. Write us at HelpMe@WalletPop.com. Q. We bought a house in Tennessee, and we are deep into debt. We want to know if we can just ask the bank to take back the house? And would we owe the bank money? We have two car payments we are...

Realtor Magazine, the official publication of the National Association of Realtors, offers up a list of six "ethical short cuts" for its members to avoid when dealing with short sales -- the process where a bank agrees to accept less than the full payoff amount in the sale of a property that is...

Many people with homes underwater (when the market value is less than the amount due on the mortgage) are either walking away from their homes and letting them go to foreclosure or working out a short sale with the bank. A short sale is getting the bank to accept less than the principal due to...