Guvmint money

So, trying to be proactive in the event I can't get a high enough paying job to make my house payment someday, I looked into Making Home Affordable. It's the highly touted government program to help struggling homeowners in this crappy economy.

After speaking to someone at the first number I called, I was transferred to a counselor with Money Management International, thinking that I would get some advice on which program I might qualify for. But alas, after this kid asking me many questions about my income and my assets and my monthly expenses, here's the advice I got:

1) The program for people having trouble making their house payments because they're on unemployment is a forbearance deal, wherein your mortgage holder can, at their discretion, lower your house payments for 3-12 months. But the amount that was delayed is due at the end of the deal.

2) The refinance-at-a-lower-rate option offered is only available to homeowners with jobs (albeit lower paying than what you might have been used to) and good credit. I'm thinking, if you are already in trouble, your credit score is probably too low to qualify. Plus, the mortgages are through various mortgage lenders that do not include my bank AND all the fees and extra costs of financing apply, including that you might pay to fill out a loan app and then be denied.

3) I should look into various websites such as LivingSocial in case they might have some coupons for my dining out needs, CouponMom in case I need to cut my grocery expenses and MakingHomeAffordable, the very website where I started all this rigamarole.

4) I should know that Walmart matches any other stores price on items. What is up with this advice?? Is Walmart a proud sponsor of a government program??

5) My current house value on zillow.com is $67,600, although that site also shows my extra half lot with a value of $58,000. Apparently the value is so low due to foreclosures in my neighborhood.

So overall, no help is available to me. Or probably to anyone else either. The kid did complement me on my frugal amount of monthly expenses, although when I pointed out that buying health insurance was a costly part of my expenses, he told me he didn't have anywhere on his worksheet to enter that as an expense. What??? Is this not one of the major factors? My monthly expenses on hair and beauty care had its own line on the form. Sheesh.
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