Keep your home after disaster strikes

Fresh from MSN Money.

The feds urge mortgage lenders to cut homeowners some slack during crises, but there's no guarantee.

Two keys: act quickly and stay in touch with your lender.

The storm is over. You're safe. So is your family. But your life will never be the same.

And for many people, unless they take the difficult step of dealing with what previously seemed like mundane day-to-day financial realities, things could get worse.

This is certainly the case for hurricane-stricken homeowners with mortgages. These Gulf Coast residents must continue to make monthly payments on badly damaged, perhaps destroyed, residences.

Homeowners who don't make their expected payments could, at best, face added costs from late-payment fees and see their credit ratings damaged. At worst, they could lose their homes before repairs or rebuilding even starts.

But you can forestall such financial fallout. The key: You've got to initiate the process and stay in close touch with your mortgage lender.

Leniency recommended

"It's not realistic to expect people to think about sending a check when they're sitting in a damaged home with no electricity," says Terry W. Claus Jr., president of Miami-based Home Financing Center

That's especially true in cases as extreme as Hurricane Katrina, where many homeowners also are facing the loss of regular income because their employers are gone.

Federal banking and housing agencies are aware of the challenges and have put out the word to lenders that accommodations should be made.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. notified institutions under its supervision that it will grant leeway for "prudent efforts to adjust or alter terms on existing loans in areas affected by the hurricane and storms.

Read the whole story here on MSN Money.

Please pass this on to anyone with friends or family.

Smokey says - keep safe.