Most foreclosure relief companies offer one, two, or maybe a handful of various options that homeowners can use to stop foreclosure. While receiving an immediate solution to the situation, the homeowners are not confronting the real problem, of which foreclosure is just a symptom. It is just as important that foreclosure victims start putting together a long-term financial plan to prevent the devastating effects of another financial hardship. Here we examine a simple five-step program to completely stop foreclosure and repair their credit and begin a long-term financial plan. This program gives foreclosure victims the resources to pursue every single known way to save their homes. If they end up facing the loss of their homes and have to rebuild, it will not be for lack of trying every method possible. And even if the worst happens, this simple process is designed to clean up their credit and put them back into a house within a year after foreclosure.

The firs step in this process is to reverse the foreclosure process. Homeowners who have not been paying their mortgage need options to stop foreclosure and they need to be working on as many options at once. This may include looking for a private investor, working with the mortgage company to put together a repayment plan or loan modification, or going through our list of foreclosure loan specialists. But the first goal for homeowners is to stop the foreclosure process from running them over before they are out of options and out of time.

Recovery from the devastating affects of foreclosure is the second step for homeowners. This includes putting together a short-term plan to begin an emergency fund and a long-term plan to make sure that any financial emergency can be survived without a disaster. Regardless of being able to stop foreclosure or not, families who have faced the loss of their homes should have a comprehensive financial plan and budget that outlines their spending habits and provides structure to their monthly budget. That way, they may never fall behind on their debts again.

Cleaning up negative information on their credit reports is another important step to repair their finances completely from the foreclosure situation, and is the third step in this process. Homeowners should take the chance to repair their good names and credit histories by using the resources available to them either through self-help resources or by using a reputable company for assistance. This step includes removing negative information from their credit reports, as well as establishing a positive, on-time payment history again, regardless of past history. Within a few months to a year, previous foreclosure victims can raise their credit scores by 50, 100, or more than 100 points, allowing them to qualify for competitive interest rates without relying on confusing Adjustable Rate Mortgages or interest-only loans.

By the end of a year or so, the fourth step in the process will be ready. This involves refinancing the current home or repurchasing a new home. After a year of sticking to a budget, planning for any emergencies, and repairing their credit, the foreclosure victims will be in a situation where they can qualify for some of the best rates for home mortgages. They may end up lowering their payments by several hundred dollars a month, or they may qualify to consolidate all of their monthly debt payments into one cheaper, more manageable mortgage obligation. This is when homeowners transition from the short-term financial recovery phase into the long-term financial independence plan.

The fifth and last step in the process to be rewarded with the feeling of having become financially independent. This may mean having established a significant emergency fund and consolidating all debts into one payment, and it may mean having paid off the house completely and being able to retire early due to a wise retirement plan. But at this point, homeowners will never have to worry about any financial hardship again, as they will have the tools and knowledge that will allow them to survive any emergency. Whether it is a loss of job, medical disability or death, or divorce/separation, the family's emergency fund will be able to get them through any problem.

Completing these five steps, from the plan to stop foreclosure to the plan to become independently wealthy and financially stable, should be the mission of any homeowner currently facing foreclosure due to a financial hardship. Every single homeowner, whether they are living paycheck-to-paycheck or are financially independent, is currently in need of a comprehensive financial plan to insure against the loss of their homes to foreclosure. From learning how to stop foreclosure, or how credit repair works, or how to retire early and never work another day in their lives, homeowners can come out of their current financial difficulties with a long-term solution and start living the life they have always dreamed of.