Millions of Americans are in distressed homeownership situations, with ARM and other mortgage terms changed even while their income is reduced. Foreclosures and pre-foreclosures are words that appear in bank letters, certainly an emotionally-charged experience for anyone who thought buying a home was a smart, solid investment.

A bit of advice to anyone in this situation: think like a business. Remove your emotion from the situation as much as possible, and consider calling in consultants. Even the most distressed companies do this – they hire the accountants and lawyers and financing specialists who help them figure out their best options.

Homeowners in trouble have this option too: they can hire mortgage loan modification consultants. For a fee of roughly one month’s mortgage payment – 100% guaranteed, refunded if unsuccessful – the loan modification firm engages lawyers, accountants and financing experts of their own on behalf of the homeowner. They know how banks work, how to speak the language and become a preferred party to work with by loan officers – who are harried, otherwise quite busy with emotional but unprepared people in foreclosure. Loan modification specialists are in this business, and have brought favorable outcomes to thousands already in recent months – allowing homeowner to continue living in their homes, making payments at a level they can afford.

Loan modification firms are changing the game for banks in how they work with distressed homeowners. In thousands of cases across the country, it’s a story of David beating Goliath because the homeowners’ special weapon – experts in home lending – are doing the fight for them.

Here’s how it works: The homeowner under pressure from a bad mortgage (often an ARM that jumped monthly payments, or a home “under water” because the amount owed on the loan is greater than the home’s current value) may lack the knowledge to approach a bank on their own, and may be intimidated by the terminology of banks. So they hire a loan modification firm for their expertise and skills – at mortgage law, real estate and financing – to do the work for them.

Borrowers generally pay a fee of $300-$400 for this service. In successful cases, that can equal the savings in the first month.

Loan modifiers are successful due to a major, underreported fact facing banks. That is that banks lose in foreclosures. They lose a customer from whom they expected years of income. They get stuck with a property to manage. And they have to figure out how to sell it in a depressed housing market that may not turn around for months or years into the future. Modifiers are so familiar with various banks’ specific positions and circumstances that they should be able to provide a money-back guaranty to clients, creating a no-lose proposition for borrowers.

Adjustable rate mortgages, ARMs, started out as a good idea. They allowed people to get better initial terms on their mortgages, to get in the game of home ownership. The thinking was the rate may go up or down, but you could deal with that at three, five or ten years into the future.

Of course, everyone knows that a bad ARM is at the basis of the home foreclosure crisis hitting millions of homeowners today. What borrowers need to do is recast their mortgages, stop foreclosure, through a loan modification.

Which might sound too good to be true. But it is possible to renegotiate your loan terms with the bank, and here’s why: banks do NOT want to foreclose on your loan. The process alone costs them money, and what they end up with is the costly business of owning a property that may very well not sell. Banks want to avoid foreclosures, and they’re willing to negotiate.

Loan modification specialists generally help this process along for most borrowers. The bureaucracy of renegotiating terms with the bank is intimidating to many, and the fact that loan officers are handling a crushing case load are barriers for many distressed individuals in the early stages of foreclosure. By calling in a specialist – generally at a modest fee, less than $400 in most cases – the borrower can be confident the best terms were achieved.

ARMs don’t have to be a regretful choice any longer. Better terms are available for those who act in time.