What Homeowners Should Know About Foreclosure Defense

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Many homeowners across the nation are finding themselves in a difficult predicament and facing foreclosure on the home that they have worked so hard to attain for their family and loved ones.  Receiving a notice of intent to foreclose can be a devastating event; however, not all hope is lost.  Foreclosure defense is a way of actively fighting back against the lender to either stall the process of foreclosure or stop it altogether. 

Since banks have significantly changed the way in which they conduct business, working with your lender during times of financial distress is not as easy as it used to be.  Through mortgage securities, lenders package and sell pools of mortgages to investors and only act as “servicers” who collect payments and issue default notices.  The system is set up in such a way to where these servicers (that you think of as your lender) are making money by foreclosing on your home and losing money in working with you to modify the terms of your mortgage.  Put simply, foreclosure defense has become a necessity if you want to keep your home. 

 

Mortgage defense consists of a process in which an attorney who understands the laws and regulations around the mortgage and lending industry requires your lender to prove they have the right to foreclose on your home.  This works as a stalling tactic, especially since many lenders have already sold the mortgage to an investor as part of a mortgage pool, and might have difficultly proving on paper that they own the mortgage. 

This process often reveals errors on the part of the lender, such as an inability to produce the original note or proof that they have participated in “robo-signing” of documents.  Such errors allow the homeowner additional time to get caught up financially, which often results in saving their home.  

My wife recently lost her job and we will be unable to pay our Chapter 13 bankruptcy payments. Is there any way we can get the bankruptcy court to lower our required payments?

My mortgage lender has sent a foreclosure notice on my home. What are my chances of just working it out with my lender to get extra time to catch up?

How Can Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Help You Save Your Business?

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America was built on the small business owner.  Like everyone else, they may be facing difficult economic times.  Are you one of these people?  Are you earning 50% of what you made a few years ago, causing you to fall behind on both your personal and business obligations? Do you want to keep the business open?   This is where a Chapter 13 personal bankruptcy could be used to save the business and protect it from creditors until profits can be seen. 

You will likely be able to save your business through Chapter 13 bankruptcy if:

1.       You can show that you have income that is “sufficiently stable and regular to enable [the] individual to make payments under a plan under chapter 13” (Section 101(30) of the Bankruptcy Code.)

2.       You can show that you (or you and your spouse) have less than $360,475 in unsecured debts (which means debts with no collateral) and less than $1,081,400 in secured debt (which means debts with collateral). 

3.       Your company is an individual (or sole) proprietorship.  If it is a corporation, limited liability company (LLC) or business partnership, there are other rules related to filing that go beyond the rules for a personal bankruptcy. 

Filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy will help you stay on your feet with your sole proprietorship business, and you will be able to use the filing to deal with your personal and business debts in one shot.  This means that creditors who are harassing you, whether for personal debts or business debts, will be placed under an “automatic stay,” meaning they can’t make any effort to collect against your personal or business assets.  You will be able to keep the important assets needed for your business to run properly without worrying that these will be taken from you through a judgment or lien.

Chapter 13 is an effective way of helping you keep your business if you are facing financial difficulties.  Talking with a bankruptcy attorney is the first step to helping you get back on your feet and keeping your business running as it should.