Hardship Letter - Financial

[Date]

[Name]
[Job Title]
[Company]

Dear Ms./Mr. [Last name],

I am writing this letter in support of my application for a forbearance plan to avert a foreclosure.

About [#] weeks ago, my small business lost three major manufacturing contracts one after the other following almost identical cost-cutting measures implemented by our clients.

I founded the small business in [Year] with $[Amount] of my own money. Until about [#] weeks/months ago, [Name of business] was a zero-debt small business with a turnover of about $[Amount].

We have now had to scale down our operations drastically and now operate out of my home. Laying off 98% of our employees has been the most traumatic decision that I have ever had to make. I wish the pay freeze and other austerity measures had worked.

We are now on the verge of filing for Chapter 11 protection (please see attached documents) and will most certainly have to declare bankruptcy if we lose the house.

You may have heard stories of jet-setting CEOs with private planes, country club memberships, holiday homes in exotic places . . . . Well, I certainly was never one of them. The most that I have earned never exceeded [#]% more than that earned by our lowest-paid employee. In fact, all of the top executives made only as much as I did.

We have now had to plow our savings back into getting our small business back on its feet. We have a very definite plan about how to go about doing this. And we are confident that our small business can achieve the same levels of production and turnover of [#] weeks/months ago in another [#] months despite the recession.

If you foreclose, the small business will literally have nowhere to go and we will be forced to declare bankruptcy and even face homelessness.

I fully intend to make the full mortgage payments but I need time. I am aware that there may be more deserving people than I am but I want you to please keep in mind that I am an employer too. If I lose my job, many people will lose their jobs too.

I sincerely hope my application for a forbearance plan will be approved and the $[Amount] that I can afford now is accepted as the mortgage payment for the next few months.

I will promptly reply if you have any questions or need more information.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

 

[Signature]
[Name]
[Account No.]