Third year into the housing correction, the slide continues. 260,000 and 405,000 homes repossessed in 2006 and 2007 respectively (Jan 2008, CNNMoney.com) and possibly 2.5 million in 2008 (US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, July 2008, Reuters). The recent enactment of the 3.9 billion dollar housing bill (Housing and Economic Recovery Act 2008) is surely a welcomed relief for many.

However, Americans tend to be below par in financial literacy (Bankrate.com telephone survey). For those who are caught in foreclosures, this could be a real problem. Ideally, homeowners themselves should be the ones calling the shots in foreclosure situations but they need to be knowledgeable enough in order to perform that task. This is vital as each foreclosure situation is unique in its own right and has its own options.

How to stop foreclosure is always a major undertaking and it can be accomplished through various ways most common of which are refinancing, forbearance, loan restructuring, supplementary loan and shortfall forgiveness. Where giving up the home cannot be helped, deed-in-lieu, pre-foreclosure and short sale are ways to avert foreclosure which harms the credit score, not to mention incurring penalties and legal costs.

Whether it?s keeping or dropping the property, the endeavor to stop foreclosure must be laid out with a sound game-plan. Once that?s done, the homeowner must set out in a highly expeditious fashion. A typical profile of execution would look something like this: -Review the financial situation thoroughly -Check out all options -Spot and skip the scams -Consult professionals or experts -Never say never

Foreclosures hurt the lenders and authorities as much as they do the homeowners these days. Given the housing crisis, financial malaise and faltering economy, we can be sure that they would go out of their way to help stop foreclosure. Put bluntly, foreclosure is the knife-edge between an asset and liability insofar as houses are concerned and the last thing that’s needed now is another one crossing over into the heap.

All sorts of information and help agencies have mushroomed everywhere, not least the internet. Public information and assistance websites, real-estate brokers, banks and other lending institutions, investors and capitalists, attorneys and consultants and guides and handbooks can be found in abundance online, all possible solutions to how to stop foreclosure. Then, there are also loads of scams and crooks so watch out, you don’t want to be burnt further!