In this day and age, people get bad credit histories for all sorts of unforeseen reasons, apart from the old standard of living above one’s means. I know several people who have got into difficulties through either redundancy, prolonged illness or a car accident, divorce, or in fact one luckless fellow had all three situations arise.

Is it possible to get a loan even with a bad credit mortgage? In today’s mortgage and loan trends, a bad credit mortgage is absolutely possible.

In the past, applying for a loan involves a thorough check up on your credit history and income background. With the world wide web, it is virtually impossible to hide any defaults. If your history is less than perfect or if your income is not that high or both, then your application for a loan is instantly rejected. This practice limits the number of people who can apply for a loan.

Today’s market has adopted more flexible methods. Bad credit mortgages makes it possible for people with low credit scores to still apply for a loan and get approved.

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Jeffrey Taylor and his wife bought their dream home in Purcellville for $538,000 last August. Now they have to sell it because they are getting divorced and neither one can afford the mortgage alone.

The most they could get for it was $430,000. After paying all the real estate commissions and taxes, they will still owe the bank $118,000.

“Five months later, I lose $100,000,” said Taylor, a high school teacher. “I don’t think I can take $100,000 into the stock market and lose it faster.”

Such a scenario, known as a short sale, was unthinkable during the real estate boom of recent years. In the course of five months, a person could buy and sell a property and walk away with tens of thousands of dollars. Now, instead of receiving large checks at the settlement table, many sellers are writing them.

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Washington Mutual Inc., the largest U.S. savings and loan, offered to refinance $2 billion worth of mortgages at lower interest rates to help subprime borrowers meet rising payments on their homes.

Homeowners who anticipate higher payments on a Washington Mutual adjustable-rate subprime mortgage can apply for assistance, the Seattle-based thrift said Wednesday in a statement.

One of the options is a 30-year, fixed-rate loan that charges half a percentage point of interest less than borrowers would otherwise pay.

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