Mortgage Lates and Refinancing

It is possible to be late on your mortage and still be able to refinance. People who are late on their mortgage by 30 or 60 days are still able to refinanace.

Benefit:
Many lenders will do mortgage refinances for borrowers who are late on their morgage by 30 or 60 days. These lates can also be late multiple times in a calendar year, such as being late 2 times by 30 days (2x30 in mortgage industry terms).

Lender Decisions:
Lenders base their loan decision on factors including:

how many times a borrower was late
how their overall credit is
past mortgage history on the current and previous mortgages
amount of equity in the property
amount of collections
amount of chargeoffs from other lenders
extenuating circumstances, such as medical problems
Your Advantages
You have a strong advantage if you have a lot of equity in your property. You should be able to tap into that equity to receive enough cash to continue to make payments (assuming you had a temporary financial emergency).

Loan Issues
You are better off as an applicant if you don't have a messy credit record with other lenders. This can include lots of other collection issues and chargeoffs.

If you can explain why you are in these problems, such as a temporary medical problem, the lender may also be willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Loan Rates
Lenders who loan for people with payment problems usually divide borrowers into three categories: A, B, and C. An "A" borrower has never been late on their mortgage, a "B" borrower is late once by 30 days, and a "C" borrower is late more than once by 30 days.

Some lenders will lend to people who are late by 30 days, while other lenders will deal with people who are late by 60 or 90 days.