<prompt> Human: My wife and I have had a personal tragedy and we are in a position we need to get out from our house asap. We have been making our mortgage payments but at the end of our rope. We are starting the short sale process but understand it might take a few months. Will the lender allow me to make partial payments? If so, how will that affect my credit? Ive read elsewhere that its better to have cash in hand with a few late payment credit dings than to keep paying the mortgage. Is that true?  <response>: You can make partial payments but they will not do any good until they have enough to apply a full payment. If the payments are eventually 30 days late youll get reported to the bureaus as such. The short sale process itself will hurt your credit. So if you are in dire straights and your credit is going to be hurt anyway, then for you cash is king. Id also look at a deed-in-lieu wherein you give the house back to the bank. They may even offer you an incentive commonly called cash for keys to leave it in broom-swept condition.Hope this helps. 