The Form 710 Mortgage Assistance Application is the standard package Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac servicers use to evaluate borrowers for help when they fall behind on their mortgage. You fill it out, attach documents that prove your income, expenses, assets, and the hardship you’re facing, and send the whole package to your loan servicer. Once the servicer receives it, federal rules give them five business days to acknowledge the package and 30 days to tell you which loss mitigation options you qualify for after the file is complete.112 CFR § 1024.41
The form is straightforward on its face, but small mismatches between what you write and what your documents show are the most common reason applications stall. Work through it methodically.
Get the Right Version of the Form
Form 710 applies to conventional loans owned or backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. You can download it from your servicer’s website, from Freddie Mac’s servicing guide, or from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
If your mortgage is insured by the Federal Housing Administration, your servicer will provide a different application that follows HUD’s loss mitigation rules. VA-guaranteed loans have their own process. Submitting Form 710 on an FHA or VA loan wastes weeks, so call your servicer first if you aren’t sure who owns your loan. Your servicer’s name is on your monthly statement, and you can also look up your loan through the MERS system.
Gather Your Documents Before You Start
Missing paperwork is the single biggest reason applications stall. A half-complete package tends to get set aside while fully documented ones move forward, so pull everything together before you open the form.
For wage earners, income documentation has been simplified. You need either your two most recent pay stubs or your two most recent bank statements. The old requirement to file an IRS Form 4506-T tax transcript has been eliminated for most borrowers.
Self-employed borrowers need more. Prepare a year-to-date profit and loss statement, your most recent business tax returns, and bank statements showing business cash flow. If your income is seasonal, the profit and loss statement carries the most weight because it reflects what you’re earning now rather than last year.
You’ll also need:
- Recent statements for every checking, savings, retirement, and investment account.
- Records of monthly housing costs paid outside escrow: property tax bills, homeowners insurance declarations, HOA dues.
- Evidence of the hardship itself. That might be a termination or layoff letter, medical bills, divorce filings, a disability award letter, a death certificate, or insurance claim documents, depending on what happened.
Every wage earner in the household counts, not just the people on the mortgage. If a spouse or other adult in the home works, include their pay stubs and tax information too.
Fill Out the Form Section by Section
Form 710 is divided into clearly labeled sections. Work through them in order and match every entry to the documents you’ve gathered.
Borrower and Property Information
Enter your name, Social Security number, date of birth, and contact information exactly as they appear on your mortgage documents. A co-borrower’s information goes in the adjacent column. List the property address, its current market value (a recent online estimate is acceptable if you don’t have an appraisal), and whether the property is your primary residence, a second home, or an investment property. Servicers prioritize primary residences for most assistance programs, so the property type matters.
Income and Expenses
Report gross monthly income, meaning what you earn before taxes and deductions. Include wages, Social Security benefits, pension payments, rental income, alimony, and any other recurring source. The servicer compares this figure directly against your pay stubs or bank statements, and a mismatch almost always triggers a delay or a rejection.
In the expense section, list every monthly obligation: mortgage payment, property taxes, insurance, HOA dues, car payments, credit cards, child support, and other recurring debts. Be thorough. Understating your expenses makes your finances look healthier than they are and can disqualify you from programs meant for borrowers in real distress.
Assets
List the current value of every financial account, including checking, savings, retirement funds, stocks, and bonds. Include real estate other than the mortgaged property, and note the estimated value of vehicles. The servicer uses this section to see whether you have reserves that could cover the arrears without a modification. Round to the nearest hundred and make sure account statements back up what you write.
The Hardship Affidavit
This is where you explain why you can’t keep up with payments. Form 710 lists specific hardship categories to check:
- Unemployment
- Reduction in income (lost overtime, cut hours, lower base pay)
- Increase in housing-related expenses (uninsured property damage, tax increases, special assessments)
- Natural or man-made disaster affecting the property or your workplace
- Long-term disability or serious illness of a borrower or dependent
- Divorce or legal separation
- Death of a borrower or wage earner
- Distant employment transfer or relocation
Check the box that fits and write a short explanation with the approximate date the hardship began. Two or three sentences connecting the event to your inability to pay is enough. What matters is that the dates match your supporting documents. If you write that you lost your job in March and the termination letter says June, the servicer will flag it.
You sign this section under penalty of perjury. Deliberate misstatements are grounds for denial and can carry legal consequences under federal law.
Submit Everything as One Package
Send the completed form and every supporting document together in a single submission. Sending items piecemeal over several days increases the chance that pages get separated in the servicer’s system.
- Most servicers have a secure online upload portal that timestamps your submission and confirms receipt of each file. This is usually the fastest and most reliable method.
- If you mail the package, use certified mail with return receipt requested. The green card proves the delivery date and who signed for it, which matters if the servicer later says nothing arrived.
- Some servicers still accept fax submissions for loss mitigation. Keep the confirmation page showing the date, time, and number of pages transmitted.
Before you send anything, photocopy or scan the entire signed application and every attachment. Servicers routinely ask for resubmissions because of technical errors or misplaced files, and having a duplicate ready cuts days off the process.
Authorizing a Housing Counselor or Attorney
You can authorize a HUD-approved housing counselor or an attorney to communicate with your servicer on your behalf by submitting a third-party authorization form. The CFPB publishes a model version most servicers accept. You’ll list the counselor’s or attorney’s name, organization, mailing address, and, for attorneys, the states where they are licensed. The form has to reach the servicer within 90 days of the date you sign it, and the authorization expires after one year.
HUD-approved counseling agencies provide free or low-cost help with the application. You can find one through the CFPB at consumerfinance.gov/housing or by calling 1-855-411-2372.
What the Servicer Must Do Next
Federal servicing rules under Regulation X set strict timelines once your application arrives.112 CFR § 1024.41
Within five business days (weekends and federal holidays don’t count) the servicer must send you a written notice acknowledging receipt and telling you whether the application is complete or what documents are still missing. If they ask for more, get them in quickly; the review clock pauses until you respond.
Once the application is complete, the servicer has 30 days to evaluate you and send a notice listing every loss mitigation option you qualify for, not just one. If a loan modification is denied, the notice has to state the specific reason and identify the investor requirement or calculation behind the decision, not just say you don’t qualify.
Your Right to Appeal a Denial
If you submitted a complete application at least 90 days before a scheduled foreclosure sale and the servicer denies you for a loan modification, you have 14 days from the denial notice to file an appeal. Different personnel than those who made the original decision must handle the appeal. The servicer then has 30 days to issue a new determination. This appeal is a single shot; the regulation does not provide a second round.
Protections While Your Application Is Pending
Filing a complete application triggers real protections against losing the home during the review.
Federal rules bar servicers from making the initial foreclosure filing, judicial or non-judicial, until the loan is more than 120 days delinquent. That window exists so you have time to apply.
Once you submit a complete application more than 37 days before a scheduled foreclosure sale, the servicer cannot advance the sale while the review is pending. Foreclosure has to be paused until the servicer evaluates you, notifies you of available options, and either you reject every offer, you fail to perform under an agreed-upon plan, or the appeal process runs its course.
These dual-tracking restrictions are among the strongest borrower protections in federal mortgage law, but they only apply when the application is complete. An incomplete submission pauses nothing, which is the practical reason to assemble every required document before you file rather than after.