Really need clarification on "surplus"

[Mike]

I have posted before and was told I should show a surplus of $100 - $250. I'm confused though. Here is my situation... We had a 2 year ARM that already reset last year. I had no clue about a "loan modification" and thought we were stuck. We have been consistently paying 30 - 60 days behind, sold one of our cars and are robbing Peter to pay Paul but have exhausted everything :( . We have explored bankruptcy, foreclosure, selling etc but we *want* to keep our home and can afford to if we can get it modified back to our original rate. I started researching and by the grace of God found this site, which has given me hope. Our rate is presently reset to around 11.5% and our original rate was 7%. I am hoping that we can have our loan fixed back at the 7%. When I am working on our budget, do I need the surplus at our original 7% (which is what I'm hoping to get) or the surplus at my current 11%? Right now, we are negative about $500 a month but would have a surplus of around $200 if we could get back the 7%. Although I'm not trying to get around anything, we can fudge the numbers if necessary but I need to figure out what the lender (ASC) will be looking for. It's just so confusing because the standard response seems to be "you need a surplus of $100 - $250" but there are so many different situations.... I'm hoping to get an answer specific to mine. Thanks so much guys!!!