Don’t Bother With a Foreclosure Defense When a Better Solution Exists
It can happen to you. During the process of trying to manage your finances, you find you’re unable to pay your mortgage. Perhaps you had an unexpected medical expense that cleaned out your savings, or you or your spouse lost your job. No matter the circumstances, you’ve missed some mortgage payments and are now worried that your home is headed to foreclosure.
You find yourself desperately investigating solutions to help you get out of this situation. Should you defend yourself against foreclosure? Can you sell? You never thought you’d be in this position before, and you feel that if you just had the right legal knowledge, you’d be able to get out of this without a complete disaster.
The Wink Law Firm has that knowledge to help you find a manageable solution. Find out how to get a better solution than a foreclosure defense, which may cost you too much time and money, and focus on getting help from our bankruptcy attorneys near you.
Is a Foreclosure Defense Your Best Option?
Foreclosure defense is a strategy to help you try to keep your home. In all but a few cases, there is no real defense to the foreclosure because you’ve missed the mortgage payments. Therefore, mortgage defense often entails a foreclosure lawyer exploring the following options on your behalf:
- Negotiating with the lender to modify your mortgage payment.
- Arranging temporary forbearance to get back on track.
- Developing a repayment plan for missed payments.
Often, a foreclosure defense, which can be expensive, forces you to put a bandage on your problems too fast. It is also important to note that a foreclosure defense does not guarantee a beneficial outcome. The lender doesn’t necessarily have to offer any of these to you.
If the lender does agree to something, the details may not be ideal for your particular situation. If they require you to catch up over a relatively short period of time, it may not be feasible, if you don’t think you’ll be able to get payments together quickly. Forbearance often kicks the can down the road while digging the hole deeper with more missed mortgage payments.
Although mortgage modification has often been a great way to resolve missed mortgage payments in the past, increased interest rates make it a lot more costly than it used to be. While the modification will resolve your missed mortgage payments, you may be looking at a much higher modified mortgage payment going forward. If you are in a low-interest-rate mortgage (as many are due to the historically low rates during the Covid-19 pandemic), modifying your mortgage will dramatically increase the interest you’ll pay on the rest of your mortgage.
However, there’s likely a better solution for you. The Wink Law Firm’s bankruptcy attorney near you can help you find a more affordable option that puts you in a better financial position in the long term.
Bankruptcy May Be Your New Path Forward
Chapter 13 bankruptcy may provide a more affordable and impactful solution for your debt, and protect you from foreclosing on your home. This stops the foreclosure and forces the mortgage lender to accept the arrears over a five-year payment plan without changing the underlying interest rate on the entire mortgage. This means it has the following advantages over foreclosure defense: i) it is not dependent on the mortgage lender’s cooperation; ii) the 5 year repayment plan is likely longer than any payment plan or forbearance period the lender will otherwise give you; and iii) it doesn’t change the interest rate on your mortgage.
Here’s the process that our attorneys recommend:
- When you file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you get an automatic stay on your foreclosure. This means that the foreclosure process is stopped, and your mortgage lender or collection agency will stop trying to seek out payments on your debt.
- You create a plan with your bankruptcy lawyer and the court over a three-to-five-year period. You must resume regular mortgage payments, while you also pay the arrears through the Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan.
- If repaying the arrears through a five-year repayment plan while resuming the mortgage payments is not affordable, you can typically structure the plan to pay less for 18 to 24 months, while you sell your home or refinance your mortgage without foreclosure.
- Additional debts you owe will also be included in the bankruptcy and may not cost you anything more than you have to pay to cure the arrears, which can make the total cost more manageable for you.
- After three to five years, your unsecured debt, including medical bills and credit cards, will be discharged, providing additional financial freedom that may have kept you from staying current with your mortgage in the first place.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy buys you time to make the best decisions for your financial future. You get the time you deserve to develop a plan that is backed by law and provides a stable path forward.
This solution, with the help of Denver’s leading bankruptcy lawyers, is also cost-effective and positions you to make incremental changes toward a brighter future, including future mortgage eligibility and relief from the worries that come with a potential foreclosure.
At The Wink Law Firm, this is precisely what we strive for: a practical way to help you get relief from your biggest financial challenges.
Consider Bankruptcy For a New Path Forward
The fear of losing your home can cause a great deal of emotional distress. The insecurity that comes with not being sure where you will live is something that no one should ever have to go through.
The Wink Law Firm’s bankruptcy attorneys near you are committed to helping you find a solution that is more than temporary and gives you control over your next steps. We are understanding, patient, and highly engaged, so you’ll have someone to lean on during the process of benefitting from our legal strategies.
We look forward to helping you deal with financial difficulties related to your home, your unpaid bills, tax debt, and many other challenges. Among the most experienced bankruptcy lawyers in the Denver area, we’re here to take care of you and deliver positive results.
Call our office today at (720) 523-0620 or schedule a free consultation online.