Intro and my story

[Joel Fraser]

My name is Elizabeth and I live in central Virginia. I am not yet behind on my mortgage payments, but I'm desperately afraid I might become so. Here is my story: I bought a house last July, but due to a series of circumstances was not able to move in until mid-October. By the time I was ready to move, I had been laid off from my job. My unemployment period ended up being 8 months long, and I used up all my resources (401K, small IRA, government stimulus check, etc) making sure I did not fall behind on any bills. My unemployment benefits ran out just about the time I started my new job. Unfortunately, the new job is quite a commute from where I live to downtonwn Washington, D.C. plus paying for parking (I do bring my lunch), so those new expenses have been added on to my existing bills. The job I took pays substantially less than my last two jobs and one paycheck does not cover the mortgage. Also, I have my car loan taken out of every paycheck ($262 per paycheck). I contacted Countrywide, who has my mortgage, to see if there was any way I could reduce my payments even temporarily but they said there was nothing they could do. I don't want to get behind on my mortgage payments, I don't want to default on the loan, I don't want to go into foreclosure. What do I do? Is there any way I can be helped? My current loan is an FHA 30-year fixed at 6.875%. Can somebody help?