Lance moved into his Kentucky home about 15 years ago with his wife because it was in a good neighborhood with good people. When they took out the mortgage loan, Lance said he and his wife did not go through a large bank and went through a finance company with an adjustable rate. The couple initially managed their mortgage payments without trouble but, like many other homeowners, unexpected events and fluctuating interest rates left Lance struggling to keep his home.

“I ended up going through a bad divorce. I left my ex-wife there with the house and she took over the payments,” said Lance, 48. “It was in both of our names but she wanted to keep the house so I moved away.” Lance was under the impression that his ex-wife had things under control with the home and was keeping up on payments. However, eight months after he moved out, Lance was hit with some startling news.

“She said she would take care of the house, make the payments and get my name off it–she never did. I was in Nashville at the time and I went to trade my truck in and they wouldn’t let me because she had gotten the house payment behind,” said Lance. “So I had to come back into the house and catch the payments up that were seven months behind.”

After Lance caught up the delinquent payments, he moved back into the home and his ex-wife moved out. Yet shortly after he moved back in and the situation seemed to be under control, things once again took an unexpected turn for Lance. “When I caught the payments up it wasn’t probably five months later, it went from a $400 payment to almost $1,000.”

Not only did Lance’s payments more than double, his loan was sold several times to different lenders as well. Lance could not make the payments and ended up filing for bankruptcy. Several months ago, Lance received a letter from AHP stating they had purchased his loan and could offer him various options to get back on track with his mortgage.

“I was a little skeptical about it, because I was worried if it was legitimate, because you never know about scams out here.” Lance contemplated contacting a lawyer, but said his skepticism faded when he was able to have direct contact with AHP. For $2,000, Lance could settle his years of delinquent payments and he could now settle his previous principal balance of $58,987.91 for $26,600. Additionally, his monthly payments dropped to $325.

Lance, a tire salesman, was happy to have a chance to save his house, but coming up with the initial $2,000 proved to be a challenge. “It’s hard to do everything, so I said what if I can’t come up with full amount, would you be willing to work with me? And AHP said yes,” Lance said. “People’s money is tight and it’s hard to make it. The recession got us all.”

AHP was able to work out a plan that allowed Lance to make several payments to cover the $2,000 settlement. Lance now lives in the home with his new wife and is concentrating on managing his budget to buy school supplies for his 7-year-old and 4-year-old sons. He is happy to have saved his home as he as seen the effects of foreclosure in his county and the surrounding areas. “There’s houses empty all over the place and people can’t get rid of them. Banks take them back over and then, once that happens, they grow weeds around them and the electric and the water and heat aren’t on. You know what’s going to happen to the inside and the outside– it’s going to go down pretty quick.”