Keeping Home from Foreclosure

Well, the mortgage company is NOW saying that we qualify for some mortgage changes in order to keep our home.  Why didn't they say that when they wanted thousands of dollars we couldn't afford to refinance for a lower interest rate?  Of course, that is just what HUD has told me.  The mortgage company was supposed to call me and I'm still waiting for that. 

In the interim, I was looking for credit counseling for our credit cards.  Apparently, we don't make enough money to afford their debt management program.  Huh?  Isn't that the point?  They gave us some advice on how to reduce our expenses so we can afford their program like get an auto insurance quote for a lower rate, change cell plans (yeah, at a couple hundred per phone line if we cancel, that makes sense...not), spend less on clothes for the kids (6 kids - we already only shop at Wal-Mart for them...it's not like we're mall shopping for them every season), change our television service (considering we have NO television service and haven't for months, not a good suggestion), cancel Internet (um...I work ON the internet from home).  They want us to cash in the stock we have for the company my husband works for.  That will help us for one month (he doesn't have much) so the long-term benefit of keeping it (the value is rising) outweighs the short-term.  Not very realistic advice.  If they knew we had two horses, they'd probably tell us to sell our girls too.