Do you have an ARM... I hope not?

Does this sound like you?

I have adjustable rate mortgage that is killing me."

I have an adjustable rate mortgage, the price continues to increase, to where we can not afford this."

We struggled to pay the mortgage for the first 6 months in hopes of being able to refinance, we weren't able to refinance."

Is there a way to get a fixed rate and get off this arm? I'm recently divorced and trying to handle everything for myself and my daughter. I would like to try and refinance and take some equity out of my home to pay some bills and get back on my feet."

An adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) is a mortgage loan where the interest rate on the note is periodically adjusted based on a variety of reasons. In the hot housing market of recent years, many households took advantage of "affordability" mortgage loans -- heavily promoted by lenders -- that hold down payments for an initial period. Now the initial periods are coming to an end on many of these loans, leaving borrowers to face resets of their interest rates that can cause monthly payments to shoot up between 10% and 50% . . .

Many people have written us we these types of comments and problems. What they're told (by loan officers and brokers) is, "Don't worry about it because you can refinance before the adjustment hits." But that isn't always possible for borrowers with heavy debt loads and little equity in their homes. Part of the problem is that borrowers are too trusting, consumers think that if the broker says I can afford this, (then) I can afford this. What to do now... that is the million dollar question?