We know you're hearing a lot about the Democrats' foreclosure prevention plan, which recently passed in the U.S. House.

It would allow the Federal Housing Administration to refinance an estimated 500,000 high-cost, adjustable-rate mortgages.

But Republicans have criticized it as a government bailout for undeserving lenders and homeowners.

President Bush says he'll veto the bill if it gets through Congress.

Even if the two sides manage to reach a compromise, there's another big hurdle almost no one is talking about.

Any foreclosure prevention plan will almost certainly require lenders to write off 15% of your debt before the FHA could buy your loan.

Of course, lenders have always had the option of writing down loans to help struggling homeowners, but they've rarely done that.

There's no reason to believe they'd leap at the chance just because the loan could then be sold to the FHA.

As Tom Deutsch, deputy executive director of the American Securitization Forum, which represents mortgage-servicing companies and investors, tactfully put it to the The Wall Street Journal: "I don't believe this would be a tool that would be used significantly."

Even the bill's co-sponsor, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is concerned that the investors who own most mortgages won't participate.

He warned last month that "if we see a widespread refusal on the part of servicers to cooperate voluntarily in what we see as an important economic problem ... they can expect much tougher regulation in the future."

But it probably won't come to that.

So don't sit around waiting for help that likely will never come. Our guide on how to avoid foreclosure is a great place to get started right now.

Whether you're buying a home or refinancing an existing mortgage, we have a mortgage calculator that can help you make the right decisions.