Top Causes of Foreclosure

Here are the top 5 reasons people get behind in their mortgage payments:

1. Temporary Job Loss - It happens to everyone. Whether you've worked for a company for 7 months or 7 years, complete job security rarely happens. And despite the fact that the average American will change jobs every 4-5 years, few have enough money saved to pay for their mortgage for more than a few months, making temporary job loss a major cause of foreclosure.
2. Illness or Injury - Similar to temporary job loss, not being able to work because of illness or injury can quickly deplete your savings and cause a default on a mortgage payment. Also, expensive medical bills can get in the way of paying the mortgage payment.
3. Misprioritizing of Bills - With so many bills to pay, it can be easy to misprioritize them. Often, people get into trouble because they first pay the smaller bills that they can "get out of the way" and the larger bills, like the mortgage payment, gets put off until it's too late.
4. Divorce / Separation - Divorce can be an extremely expensive and long process. It is also an expense that would normally not be part of your monthly expenses, causing the money usually put towards the mortgage payment partially used for the divorce or separation. There are also complications when both parties are co-signed on the mortgage loan and the parties are in dispute over who pays the mortgage payment.
5. Expensive Repairs - Like divorce or injury, expensive repairs are generally a one-time expense that has never been part of your monthly budget and can cause you to default on a mortgage payment.