Q&A Doc #1
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?
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. You will have a much better chance of keeping your home if you work with an attorney for active foreclosure defense.
Q&A Doc #2
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?
If you are unable to make your monthly payments required in your Chapter 13 settlement due to a change in job status or less income coming in than what was noted in your Chapter 13 filing, it will be necessary for your bankruptcy attorney to request that your Chapter 13 be restructured. If the circumstances are mitigating enough, a court might agree to do this. However, bankruptcy courts look at these situations on a case-by-case basis and consider all the details before granting the restructured settlement. In many cases, when this occurs, it is a process of adding on to the length of time for which the payments are made, thus lowering them.