The departmental title of 'loss mitigation' has become the most popular name for a bank or other corporation's most unenviable department. These poor souls have the sad duty of cutting deals with their loan holders (a.k.a. You) when times are tough. (a.k.a. Now)

Most commonly, the loss mitigation department of a lending institution will be the one you need to talk to if you can no longer afford your mortgage. If they exist (and they do in all of the bigger banks) they are the only ones authorized to make deals to discount or forgive your mortgage when you can't pay on time.

Nine times out of ten, however, they won't deal with you directly. You'll need a real estate Investor to purchase your home from you in order to access a loss mitigation officer, and that means that you'll still be moving out.

The last 10% of the time, however, for the extremely lucky in our unprecedented, horrible economy, can find a way to simply have some of their debt 'forgiven.' Banks need money now more than ever and if they sense you can still pay enough, it just may be in their best interest to accept less money, both now and in the long run, rather than getting no money at all.

Again, don't hold your breath when looking for such a deal; finding it has nothing to do with your legal knowledge or silver tongue as it does with their current balance sheet and loss-risk policies. The best you can do is to read up on your particular lender and keep your ear to the tracks of the whole industry.

This page will showcase news and resources we stumble upon about loss mitigation. If you're searching hard for the best way to get out from under a huge mortgage, reading through this section would be a great first place to start.