If you're behind on your mortgage or facing default on your mortgage payments, and want to keep your home, you should speak to a home preservation specialist or an attorney immediately. The loan modification process (part of a suite of potential alternatives to foreclosure your mortgage servicer refers to as "loss mitigation") is fraught with chances to misstep, which despite your best efforts may cost you your home. Many of those missteps may not be your fault, and without the assistance of counsel or a HUD-certified housing counselor you may not recognize them or be able to prove that your servicer is to blame. 

Since January 2014, many servicers have had to follow regulations that demand they meet strict deadlines and disclose a great deal of information about your loss mitigation application, your eligibility and ineligibility for various alternatives to foreclosure, and your right to appeal their determination of eligibility or ineligibility. If they follow these guidelines, their customers are likely to reach an outcome that is beneficial to them. However, if they do not follow these regulations, servicers may be liable for damages, which, in some cases, could pay a portion or all of a homeowner's past-due payments. 

Unfortunately, even with counsel, fault can be difficult to prove, but there are a few things you can do to protect yourself and help your attorney reach a good outcome. 

1. Never trust that your servicer's advice is in your best interest.

We hear it all the time: servicers tell their customers that they need to be in default in order to be considered for a loan modification. Servicers advise homeowners "not to worry" about the foreclosure lawsuits they file against homeowners, explaining that it's "just something our collections department does". They tell homeowners that all they have to do is keep working on a loan modification and not to respond to the lawsuit. 

Despite providing advice and guidance to its customers, if you're in foreclosure, your servicer will flatly deny any advice it gave was meant to be relied upon, since it is a business and is concerned foremost for the interest of its shareholders, not its customers. That does not mean that it cannot be held to account for advice it has given you or promises it has made, but it does mean that you will be in for a fight if you have followed your servicer's advice to your detriment. Don't trust your servicer without verifying the advice you're getting from the servicer by asking a lawyer or housing counselor about the advice. Following this rule will help protect you from some of the worst abuses. 

2. Keep everything your servicer sends you.

Especially when you're in default and applying for some sort of loss mitigation, you should receive a lot of letters from your servicer. All of them are important, and many are governed by the regulations linked above. You should keep all of these letters. Moreover, since you cannot always trust that a letter was sent on the date it claims, you should keep all of the envelopes these letters come in. The envelope will have a postmark date on it, which can be invaluable when trying to prove a required deadline was not met.

3. Keep a copy of everything you send your servicer.

One of the disclosures your servicer must send you is a notice that your application is not complete. It must outline what documents are missing and give you an opportunity to send them. If you do not provide necessary documentation, your servicer can deny you any loss mitigation option. Keeping a copy of what documents you've sent -- and when and how you sent them -- may protect you and assist you on any appeal of a negative determination.

4. Take notes.

When speaking with your servicer on the phone, make a note of when the phone call took place, who you spoke with, and what advice or guidance the servicer provides you.