Bad situation--allow bank to cover check or be 30+ days late on mortgage?

I cannot decide which to do. I have been with my bank for over 13 yrs in good standing. I have only had a few instances in that time where I had insufficient funds to cover a transaction. I know they will not return a transaction unpaid to recipient up to $1500. because of my history. I have also NEVER made a 30 day late payment to my mortgage. Here's the problem-- we have undergone a pay change that will now result in a paycheck being received when our mortgage will be considered 34 days late. I have contacted the mortgage company 2x, and they will do NOTHING to help. I have about $1k of the roughly $1500 needed, but will definately be short by $400+ the day the payment will go 30 d. I assume the bank will pay out the difference to the mortgage company and hit me with NSF fees. Do I pay it, bounce it on my end and accept the fee, or do I just allow the 1 time late on the credit report? I will need to apply for a car soon, so credit matters, but bouncing terrifies me. Which is worse?

Cannot get the overdraft line of credit you mention- score too low since cards are all full. We had a fire in Feb that displaced us for more than half the year. We lost ALMOST everything, but are still fighting the insurance. We have replacement policy, which is good, but also means we pay out first and they reimburse-taking their sweet time to do it. We are waiting on more insurance money, but it won't come in time to help this.

We know our financial status isn't good- I am just asking which is WORSE if you can't get credit or a loan anywhere to cover it.

have you tried taking money out of equity? if not i am sure you would get a great interest rate from your bank when applying for a small loan to get by...

go to your bank and apply for Overdraft Protection. This is usually in the form of a "tab" (for lack of a better phrase) that will cover any/all overages if you over draw. Rather than pay fees for overdrawing your account, your bank will simply slap the overage onto this "tab", and charge you interest on it until you pay it off. That way, essentially, nothing gets bounced. As long as you pay on the overdraft "tab" every month, you're golden.I have this with my bank, and its saved my butt many times over the past 10 years.

Just be careful..if you miss even one mortgage payment, your lender CAN start the foreclosure process. Read the fine print carefully.

Send the check and tell the bank you have done this and will get it covered and the fee in .....days.

With so many people that can't pay their house payments at all the mortgage companies are very weary of late payments.

If you are that close each month then you had better make some very drastic changes in your living style. Anyone with less than one hundred thousand dollars behind them is is dangerous territory. You most likely are living beyond what you should be.

What you need to do is contact the BANK and apply for NSF coverage. If you have a credit card with the same bank, it's relatively simple. We maintain such an arrangement just to avoid such problems should they occur. Don't ASSUME that the bank will cover the shortage. Be proactive and INSURE that they will do so.

Do not go 30 days late on your mortgage. It will affect your credit. I would definately pay the 30 to 40 dollar charge from the overdraft to save your credit.