Dear Harry: I hate you! For many years you have warned people against adjustable-rate mortgages. Unfortunately, my wife and I ignored your advice. We went for one with optional payments. That's right. We saw a house that we both fell in love with, and we went way overboard. With the lowest possible payment well beneath our ability to pay at that time, we bought a house with a $250,000 mortgage. We have been paying $200 a month less than the interest. The result is that we now have a mortgage which is about $260,000. Early next year the payments will rise to almost twice what we're paying now in order to amortize the principal and pay the interest. There is just no way we can afford to pay that. This is especially so because I am no longer getting overtime at my job. The bank refused to modify the terms of the mortgage. This fiasco was partly their fault because they really sold us on this "new" mortgage idea. Why did you have to be right? What can we do now?

What Harry says: It was easy to be right. You went for a deal that I would only recommend in very, very rare occasions. It was mortgages with interest-only payments that helped get us into trouble with the Great Depression. You did not indicate whether your home is worth more than the current principal. If it is, you have a shot at refinancing, as long as you have a good credit score. If not, try once more with the bank's chief lending officer. If that fails, you will lose the house at foreclosure. At that point, you will have to consider what you've already paid as rent, and hope that the bank doesn't come after you for the remaining amount due after the foreclosure sale. Being right doesn't always bring pleasure.

Write Harry Gross c/o the Daily News, 400 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19130. Harry urges all his readers to give blood: Contact the American Red Cross at 800-GIVE LIFE.