Some lenders are avoiding renegotiations with at-risk homeowners-but this lack of cooperation isn't necessarily driven by stubbornness.

It's said that every objective can be reached in one of two ways-through a doorway, or through a brick wall. As the mortgage crisis heats up, lenders are stumbling towards the brick wall of foreclosure-despite evidence that foreclosure, like crime, simply doesn't pay.

Tough times

If you're having trouble making your mortgage payments, the first step to avoid foreclosure is to ask your lender about negotiating some new terms. Common sense holds that lenders should be willing to modify terms rather than incur the expenses of foreclosure. Unfortunately, common sense doesn't always prevail, and some loan servicers aren't budging for their at-risk homeowners.

In the wake of the mortgage heyday

Loan servicers are the people who collect your mortgage payments, coordinate your property tax payments, and manage default issues. This probably isn't the same company that originated your mortgage loan. And therein lies some of the problem. Many of today's mortgages were funneled into mortgage pools that back securities, and those securities were sold on the secondary market. Often, loan servicers are managing pools of mortgages on behalf of an investment group that owns the securities. This can be troublesome for at-risk borrowers, because the loan servicer may not have the authority to renegotiate mortgage terms. Sometimes, the loan servicer may not even know how to obtain the authority to renegotiate.

These aren't the only obstacles, however. In other cases, lenders simply don't have the resources to manage the number of calls that they're receiving. With an increasing amount of homeowners asking for help, lenders are struggling to deal with these requests while continuing their daily operations.

At-risk means at wit's end

Other at-risk homeowners have intentionally avoided discussions with lenders, for fear of being caught in loan application lies. A few years ago, the pressure of skyrocketing home prices prompted many applicants to overstate their income just to qualify. Some of these homeowners probably wouldn't even benefit from a renegotiated loan. If the mortgage wasn't affordable at the start, fixing the interest rate from further hikes won't help. In this situation, it might be more productive to negotiate a short sale-where the lender sells the home immediately, collects the proceeds, and voids the loan obligation. The lender can recoup some funds quickly, and the homeowner doesn't get stuck with a foreclosure on her credit report. Best of all, the short sale lets everyone involved move on from the situation as soon as the house sells.

Falling behind in your mortgage payments is incredibly stressful for you and your lender. While you might feel like beating your head against that brick wall, it's still worthwhile to open up the lines of communication with your lender. If renegotiating isn't an option, ask why. There may be an open doorway around somewhere, but you might have to do some searching to find it. Sometimes, if you knock long enough, a door very well opens.