Stopping Mortgage Foreclosures
If your home mortgage is being foreclosed because you’re behind on payments, you can stop the foreclosure and get time to catch up by filing a Chapter 13 plan. This is one of the main purposes Congress had in mind when it enacted Chapter 13 – giving homeowners a chance to keep their homes while requiring your lender to wait while you catch up on payments you’ve missed.
Here’s how it works: we file your Chapter 13 case in bankruptcy court. This prevents the foreclosure from going forward, even if it has already been scheduled for a sheriff’s foreclosure sale. You then start making the regularly scheduled future mortgage payments. The lender is legally required to start accepting the payments again. You also need to start paying the court-appointed Chapter 13 trustee a monthly payment to catch up the past due house payments. You normally have about three to five years to catch up.
The lender is required to wait, and cannot foreclose, so long as you make the regular monthly mortgage payment along with the monthly trustee payment. Even if you’re not sure you can successfully complete this process because of your income, you can obtain valuable time to remain in your home by filing a Chapter 13 case. You can almost always extend the time you get to stay in your home by about twelve months by filing Chapter 13, even if you don’t make any payments at all on the mortgage after filing the case. Of course, the goal is to successfully complete the plan payments and keep your home. The law requires that we show the court a reasonable plan you can successfully complete.
Call my office to find out how Chapter 13 can help you keep your home. There's no obligation, and it’s certainly a good idea to know what your rights are regarding your home mortgage.