万一陷入偿付房贷困境怎么办？

万一陷入偿付房贷困境，请参考以下专家建议：

What to do if you're struggling

• As soon as you miss a repayment get legal advice and contact your lender about trying to work out a repayment schedule. The Consumer Credit Legal Centre of NSW says it’s easier to work out a repayment schedule with banks than non-bank lenders, because banks are governed by a code that requires them to work with loan customers who are in financial difficulties, and there is also an ombudsman to deal with disputes.

• Under the Consumer Credit Code, if you’ve fallen on hard times due to illness, injury or job loss you might qualify for a hardship variation to your repayments.

• If rejigging repayments is not an option, try to sell the house yourself rather than let it go at a mortgagee sale. You need to do this before your lender starts court action. Although banks are bound to try to get the best price possible for a house, the RBA says voluntary sales seem to fetch between 15 to 20 per cent more than mortgagee-in-possession sales.

• In some circumstances borrowers can dip into their superannuation to get their home loan back on track. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority needs to approve the early release of superannuation. In 2006, APRA approved 13,781 applications for the early release of super due to financial stress resulting from either mortgage payments or medical expenses. This worked out at $135 million, compared to the $77 million released early the previous year.

Be careful. Only do this if you think your financial difficulties are short- term. If they are ongoing, you might still lose your house and have little superannuation to fall back on.

• Depending on your policy, some insurance companies will cover home loan repayments. This will only be possible with policies like income protection or mortgage protection insurance.

Lender's mortgage insurance - which you generally have to take out if your deposit is less than 20 per cent - protects the lender, not the borrower.

• Several state governments, including NSW, Victoria and Queensland offer short term, interest free mortgage relief loans to cover temporary shortfalls. You must live in the property and the loans will only be granted if the value of the house and size of the mortgage are under certain thresholds.