Published Friday, January 20, 2012 @ 7:08 pm

Jobs in the private sector may be on the way up—a complete change of pace from the post-Recessionary years—but optimism about the mortgage industry is still way down in the wake of massive foreclosure abuses at major mortgage lenders.

In fact, The New York Times recently published a shocking article detailing the struggles of homeowners facing foreclosure framed by mortgage servicing horror stories piling up all across the nation.…

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Published Tuesday, October 4, 2011 @ 1:50 pm

The nation’s income dropped in August 2011, for the first time in nearly two years, according to a government report released last week. The drop was precipitated by a weak labor market and falling consumer confidence.

According to Reuters, “Weak incomes as employment growth ground to a halt and earnings fell hurt spending in August.…

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Published Sunday, September 25, 2011 @ 10:20 am

Foreclosures? Theeeey’re Baaaaack.

After several months of falling default rates, foreclosures were up again in August 2011, rising by about 7 percent compared to the month before. In fact, according to new numbers from the real estate firm RealtyTrac, some of the biggest increases were in the nation’s wealthier places: suburbs, industrial hubs, as well as small town service worker centers, already hard-hit by the great recession.…

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Published Monday, September 19, 2011 @ 8:51 am

The big news recently seems to be rising unemployment, with jobs coming back into focus as yet another election season begins to heat up. But a recent jump in another bad economic bellwether—home foreclosures—is a new cause for concern in these uncertain economic times.

According to a latest reports, the number of mortgage-default notices filed by banks climbed 33 percent between July and August — the biggest single-month increase in four years, according to the data provider RealtyTrac.…

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Published Tuesday, September 13, 2011 @ 10:16 am

In the years since the end of America’s recent Great Recession, there have been plenty of ups and downs in economic forecasts, fiscal prognostications, and financial facts and figures. But as mortgages rates rose forcing many into foreclosure, the personal health of those impacted went on the decline, as the real estate reckoning wrought a wave of depressed homeowners.…

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Published Tuesday, August 30, 2011 @ 6:43 pm

Historically low interest rates haven’t really reaped the kind of benefits they normally would in a post-recessionary period. In reality, economic growth has stagnated, the real estate market remains in the gutter, and consumer confidence has yet to recover to pre-recessionary levels.

But bargain-basement interest is also having unintended effects, including what the Associated Press called “killing savers”—like retirees and others who depend on interest income.…

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Published Friday, August 12, 2011 @ 6:11 am

Amid the lingering housing crisis, full of fraudulent foreclosures, falling home prices, missed mortgage modifications, and underwater homes drowning in delinquencies, many disenfranchised Americans have turned to renting to keep a roof over their heads, and their heads above financial water.

But new numbers from the Census Bureau and Morgan Stanley reveal that home ownership rates have fallen even more dramatically than previously thought, with average Americans avoiding the real estate reckoning through a variety of rental safety nets.…

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Published Saturday, June 18, 2011 @ 8:21 am

It’s no secret that a big reason for our country’s lingering financial malaise is the real estate market’s seemingly unending mortgage crisis—forcing many Americans out of house and home while also contributing to a bleak economic environment for home purchases, investment and spending.

But along with the knowledge that the mortgage servicing industry foreclosed on more than one million homes last year and is on track to do better in 2011, comes more bad news for the beleaguered economy: high unemployment is now further dragging down the housing market and subsequent prospects for our country’s economic recovery.…

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Published Tuesday, June 14, 2011 @ 1:28 pm

Two years after experts found the recession to have ended, real estate prices continue to fall in major cities all across the country according to a new report—in some cases to their lowest level since the housing bubble burst in 2006—signifying a true recovery has yet to materialize in the beleaguered housing market.…

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Published Sunday, May 29, 2011 @ 2:38 pm

When markets crashed, home prices fell, and unemployment rates rose, many desperate debtors were left destitute, depressed and feeling without hope in the height of our recent Great Recession. And as you might imagine, and as researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed last week, some of these desperate Americans even took their own lives—in greater number—during the tough economic times of the 2000s.…

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Published Tuesday, May 24, 2011 @ 5:49 pm

While many are led to believe that filing for bankruptcy can kill your credit score, it turns out missing a single mortgage payment—a common symptom of recent economic malaise—may be just as deadly to your credit’s near future.

According to a recent article from The New York Times, “Missed mortgage payments, serious loan delinquencies, loan modifications, short sales, foreclosures and bankruptcies all drag down credit scores.…

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Published Monday, May 16, 2011 @ 7:47 pm

Pick up any newspaper or turn on any news channel and you’ll see economists and financial experts pointing to signs of a slow and steady economic recovery, including facts and  figures showing spikes in consumer savings, spending and home sales. Unfortunately, you can also hear about average Americans, joining those who are down on their luck, who are simply choosing to walk away from their monthly mortgage payments.…

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Published Monday, April 4, 2011 @ 5:37 pm

In 2010, the President Obama reworked his $75 billion foreclosure prevention plan. The second incarnation of the Home Affordable Modification Program (or HAMP) added new incentives to help those hardest hit by the housing crisis, targeting homeowners who were unemployed or underwater in their mortgages (i.e., folks owing more on their loans than their homes were worth).…

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Published Monday, March 28, 2011 @ 6:15 am

We recently shared a sampling of the Federal Trade Commission’s recent tips for saving your home amid the financial fears of foreclosure. Being proactive, applying for a loan modification, and working directly with your mortgage servicer to for a better financial future in your own home sweet home.

But amid this timely advice for those seeking shelter from those who might otherwise take theirs, it’s worth mentioning news that when banks won’t help a beleaguered borrower modify his or her mortgage, scammers are stepping in to take advantage of these households in need.…

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Published Friday, March 18, 2011 @ 6:08 am

To commemorate the Federal Trade Commission’s annual National Consumer Protection Week (March 6 – 12, 2011), the FTC is providing a budget-load of handy-dandy information designed to protect your money, your credit, and your overall post-recessionary financial future. So whether you’re rebuilding your economic life post-bankruptcy, or simply trying to speed up your savings, the NCPW blog can yield a wealth of resources exactly at a time when average Americans need a financial infusion, including information about:

• Avoiding foreclosure rescue and other mortgage-related scams;
• Knowing how to spot employment opportunity scams;
• Making the most of your money in the early stages of your career;
• Building and maintaining a budget to improve financial stability;
• Avoiding time-share and credit-card scams offered via text messages; and
• Learning what steps to take to save your home from foreclosure.

…

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Published Tuesday, March 15, 2011 @ 9:03 am

With its many Armed Forces outposts, bases and camps, North Carolina is among a select group of states that are home to a storied U.S. military tradition as well as large military and veteran populations. As such, citizens of North Carolina and other states are often familiar not only with the duties and honorable service of these military men and women, but are also aware of the many laws passed to give veterans preferred status as a token for their former and continuing sacrifice.…

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Published Tuesday, March 1, 2011 @ 12:58 pm

We talk a lot about the real estate reckoning and its effects on companies, individuals, municipalities, and sometimes states. But these days the mortgage crisis is even handing the family pet a raw deal, as families are forced into foreclosure and out of their homes, and the animals they owned are left behind in animal shelters, or worse yet, in the empty houses to languish alone.…

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Published Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 10:40 pm

As countless bankruptcy clients in this country have made clear, seeking the debt dissolution solutions of a personal bankruptcy can help free up finances that help with home mortgage payments—even amid the real estate reckoning of the recent recession—and, as such, aid many households in avoiding the perils of foreclosure.

But now the proof is in the reporting.…

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Published Monday, February 7, 2011 @ 10:19 pm

When asked in a recent interview by Anna Robertson of Yahoo! News what he had to say to America’s 14.5 million unemployed, the Vice President Joe Biden responded, “hang in there.” Pointing to a slow and gradual national recovery, Biden said that while the unemployment rate is only “dropping minimally,” the economy is slowly improving, leaving Americans to wait it out.…

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Published Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 8:22 am

Amid a 2010 marred by some of the highest foreclosure rates ever recorded, came the news that many of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders had been forced to suspend foreclosure proceedings following charges that these same “mega mortgage-holders” rushed the recordation process by forcing thousands of borrowers from their “home sweet homes” without the appropriate documentation to do so.…

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Published Saturday, January 22, 2011 @ 7:24 am

In 2010, the Obama administration reworked its $75 billion Home Affordable Modification Program (AKA “HAMP”) in an attempt to better help those hardest hit by the housing crisis: homeowners who were unemployed or underwater in their mortgages (i.e., owing more on their loans than their homes are worth). Within these changes, (1) the unemployed could qualify for up to a six month stay on their mortgage payments;  (2) in turn, participating banks would receive financial incentives to reduce mortgage balances for underwater homeowners; and (3) lenders could refinance mortgage loans secured by the Federal Housing Administration.…

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Published Friday, January 14, 2011 @ 11:52 am

Following the worst financial downturn since the Depression of the 1930s, men and women of the middle-class have found themselves profoundly affected by an economic meltdown that’s quickly pushed many into poverty. Widening unemployment paired with shrinking government safety nets means one unexpected and unfortunate incident—a sudden layoff, debilitating injury or illness, a missed mortgage payment—can mean a person’s life is instantly transformed from “happy-go-lucky” to the brink of homelessness or worse.…

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Published Thursday, January 13, 2011 @ 3:56 pm

Business insiders and industry experts are all aflutter after last week’s US Bancorp v. Ibanez decision in which Massachusetts’ highest court found that Wells Fargo and US Bancorp had no right to seize the homes of two delinquent borrowers since neither financial institution could prove they legally owned the mortgages at the time they foreclosed.…

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Published Monday, January 3, 2011 @ 8:51 am

Despite an apparent uptick in consumer confidence this during the latter part of 2010, no one is buying the idea that the housing market—a major cause for this decade’s economic meltdown—is getting better anytime soon. In fact, according to U.S. Bank regulators, the country’s home foreclosures actually spiked in the third quarter as banks and other mortgage lenders became less inclined to help Americans stay in their homes as the housing market continues to struggle.…

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Published Tuesday, December 28, 2010 @ 10:30 pm

A number of months ago, it came to light that a number of banks, in conjunction with a few large law firms and foreclosure processing companies, were creating foreclosure assembly lines. As cases came down the line, outsourced “foreclosure specialists” would rubber stamp each one, regardless of its individual circumstances. For example, families who may have just started a modification program or were perhaps late on only one payment were being asked to turn in their keys.…

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Published Saturday, December 25, 2010 @ 8:35 pm

The holidays. A time for figgy pudding, partridges zipping around pear trees and maids milking barn animals. Those are well and good signs of happiness and all, but we’re here to dole out gifts that really sparkle under the tree, the kind that keep on giving and never need be returned.…

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Published Friday, December 17, 2010 @ 9:44 pm

In the midst of a record number of foreclosures, inattentive banks riddled with an ever-growing wave of scandal and a widely held mistrust of the financial industry, Raleigh based State Employees Credit Union has won major kudos from customers all across the state for their handling of homeowners’ struggles throughout the recession.…

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Published Wednesday, December 8, 2010 @ 11:56 am

A program designed to help American homeowners stay afloat during the tsunami of foreclosures is starting to take on water, according to a committee of Washington Republicans assigned to overseeing White House programs.

Announced not long after it became readily apparent that a major national financial crisis was at hand, the Obama Administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, offered mortgage lenders financial incentive for restructuring customers’ payment plans.…

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Published Monday, November 15, 2010 @ 10:13 am

While some experts are calling the latter portions of 2010 a new era of economic recovery, bankruptcy filings remain in true recession-era form.  In fact, according to the 2010 Fiscal Year statistics from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the number of bankruptcies filed between October 1, 2009 and September 30, 2010 increased from 1,402,816 to 1,596,355, marking an increase of 13.8%.…

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Published Saturday, November 13, 2010 @ 8:21 am

Even though the Triangle is one of the better performing real estate markets in the country, even being named by Newsweek as one of the Top 10 Places in America Poised for Recovery, it wasn’t enough to buoy the state’s foreclosure rate, which has surged during 2010.

In October, the foreclosure rate jumped more than 40 percent when compared to the same time last year.…

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Published Friday, November 12, 2010 @ 10:36 am

As has been well reported, mortgage modifications in the current housing market remain hard to come by. But what is less well known is that even for many lucky enough to modify their current house payments, the financial future is far from safely sheltered.  According to a recent report, more than 50 percent of homeowners who received mortgage modifications were at least two mortgage payments behind within a single year’s time, yet again making them vulnerable to perils of foreclosure.  The report also showed that approximately one-third of homeowners who received mortgage modifications that reduced their monthly payments by 20 percent or more had fallen behind again within a year compared to 60 percent for borrowers whose loan payments were left unchanged or increased.…

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Published Sunday, November 7, 2010 @ 6:36 am

If you’re here, there’s no way around it: you’re considering a personal bankruptcy filing. And if you’re considering bankruptcy options, odds are your preference is for Chapter 7, a liquidation bankruptcy that qualifies you to discharge most or all of your unsecured debts. In the alternative, Chapter 13 bankruptcy means crafting a plan to repay a lighter load of debts, usually only the consumer’s secured debts (like car payments and mortgages)

Given these facts, you may think the choice is clear and that Chapter 7 is the only way go.…

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Published Friday, November 5, 2010 @ 10:28 pm

Months after a number of debated stimulus efforts on the part of our federal government to help bolster an ever-weakening economy, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke is bringing to light yet another move designed to try it again. Given the mood of the people and their recent display of frustration at the polls, it’s not very likely that Bernanke’s message will reach accepting ears.…

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Published Sunday, October 31, 2010 @ 5:41 pm

This week you may have seen many ghouls and goblins trolling around your neighborhoods, asking for tricks or treats. But, the scariest thing currently happening in your community is an array of potentially unlawful home repossessions from mortgage companies expediting the foreclosure process or refusing mortgage modifications in bad faith. In turn, a whole host of homeowner lawsuits have erupted on the scene, with the vast majority of them revolving around the idea that mortgage companies are deliberately misleading and manipulating homeowners just like you for their own financial benefit.…

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Published Friday, September 10, 2010 @ 6:25 pm

By it’s very name, a Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy sounds like a process that would leave you not only without any debt, but also without any property or assets left over to show for it. As a result, many people considering Chapter 7 bankruptcy worry about losing their biggest asset—their home—in the process.…

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Published Thursday, September 2, 2010 @ 10:36 am

Imagine for a moment that you’ve fallen on hard times. You’ve gotten one, two, or maybe more payments than you can count behind on your mortgage. Your bank or mortgage lender has contacted you over and over, threatening you with talk of a foreclosure. You’ve even been told to expect a foreclosure sale in the coming month.…

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Published Monday, August 30, 2010 @ 2:20 pm

In previous posts we’ve mentioned the findings of Third World America, Arianna Huffington’s new book taking an up-close-and-person and personal look at those hardest hit by the ongoing economic crisis: individuals, families and even whole communities.

In the process of capturing this unwelcome slice of American life, Huffington’s own news and information website The Huffington Post has “mapped the areas hardest hit by home foreclosure, unemployment and bankruptcy this year.”

To give you an idea of the depth and scope of the damage done by the financial meltdown, here’s an overview of how hard people are being in hit throughout a state like North Carolina.…

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Published Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 9:47 am

In the hard-hit housing market, there’s some good news and some bad news. First the good news: according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, for the first time since 2006, the number of loans in the process of foreclosure fell in the second quarter. But then there’s the bad news: even with these drops in default leading to foreclosure, still more early delinquencies are apparent all across the county as homeowners continue to struggle with high unemployment and job insecurity.…

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Published Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 8:21 am

In the annals of bankruptcy law, special rules have come to dictate how certain property—from homes to cars to household items—is categorized and dispensed post-filing. Specifically, most states have some sort of homestead exemption that protects some or all of the equity in the debtor’s home from the clutches of creditor claims.  The Bankruptcy Code provides debtors with a homestead exemption—an exemption that is doubled for joint owners.…

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Published Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 11:46 am

During the mid-2000s, housing prices reached stratospheric levels with mortgage lenders more than willing to be liberal with their loans, selling the idea of the “home as American Dream” to anyone who would listen—whether they were qualified or not.  But, if the recent housing crisis has taught us anything, it’s that home ownership isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.…

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Published Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 9:27 am

Debtors attempting to avoid bankruptcy by waiting for housing prices (and equity) to increase may be waiting a long time. In fact, according to The New York Times, wealth-building via housing booms may have also gone the way of guaranteed pensions, free healthcare, and secure employment.

Per the NYT, “many real estate experts now believe that home ownership will never again yield rewards like those enjoyed in the second half of the 20th century, when houses not only provided shelter but also a plump nest egg.…

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Published Wednesday, August 18, 2010 @ 7:44 am

With many experts predicting a protracted economic malaise with imperceptible growth and stubbornly high joblessness, bankruptcy filings appear to be in true recession-era form, rising in recent months, and, according to many analysts, increasing with no end in sight. In fact, during early summer, the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) validated these fears, reporting that personal bankruptcy filings increased in 2010 compared with only one year ago.…

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Published Thursday, August 12, 2010 @ 10:22 am

If you’re reading this, odds are you may be suffering through  a tough financial time. Yet, what might make you feel a bit better about your current ordeal is the knowledge that you’re not alone. Millions of average Americans just like you are facing a shared financial circumstance as they struggle to stay afloat in the wake of this decade’s Great Recession—facing foreclosure, job insecurity, and, in some cases, insolvency.…

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Published Thursday, August 12, 2010 @ 10:18 am

If you’re reading this, odds are you’re considering bankruptcy. As such, you have a lot on your plate. Yet, what might make you feel a bit better about being bankruptcy bound is the knowledge that you’re not alone. Millions of average Americans just like you are facing desperate circumstances as they struggle to stay afloat in the wake of this decade’s Great Recession—facing foreclosure, job insecurity, and, of course, insolvency.  In the series, Our Great Recession 2.0, we’ll delve into some of the more unique stories of this decade’s unprecedented economic downturn, allowing you to see familiar faces and dire places people are going in order to handle the financial meltdown head-on.…

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Published Tuesday, August 10, 2010 @ 9:26 am

You can’t turn on a television or read a newspaper today without hearing about the housing crisis, with foreclosure remaining the focus of many a homeowner’s worst nightmare. Yet even in areas where banks aren’t repossessing Americans’ biggest assets, the real estate market meltdown is still having its way with local politics and policymaking, haunting many communities—in the form of skyrocketing property taxes—for years to come.…

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Published Wednesday, August 4, 2010 @ 7:11 pm

In the Triangle, an area known for entering recessions later and exiting them earlier, foreclosures continue to be a problem, as the rate dipped a tad in June but on the whole, remains above where it was last year at this time. For a market like ours, that’s not a good sign.…

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Published Friday, July 30, 2010 @ 2:58 pm

More bad news for those facing tough financial times: mortgage foreclosures are likely to top the one million mark in 2010. As The Associated Press reported in the last week, “Nearly 528,000 homes were taken over by lenders in the first six months of the year, a rate that is on track to eclipse the more than 900,000 homes repossessed in 2009, according to data released Thursday by RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing service.”

By comparison, according to RealtyTrac, in an average year the United States only sees about 100,000 homes in foreclosure.…

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Published Tuesday, July 13, 2010 @ 1:25 am

No one likes surprise expenses, especially when we’re already struggling to get by.

Countless bankruptcies can be attributed to the use of credit to handle an emergency, especially when they involve our homes. Sure, emergencies involving the home are why we have home insurance but you still have to pay a deductible and more than likely, there are always extra costs you won’t expect.…

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Published Wednesday, July 7, 2010 @ 8:53 am

News just moved from bad to worse for many homeowners seeking shelter under the Obama Administration’s Home Affordability Modification Program (otherwise known as HAMP).

Recent government figures show that the average beneficiary of the administration’s flagship homeowner-assistance program owes their mortgage lender more than $1.50 for every dollar their home is currently worth.…

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Published Monday, June 21, 2010 @ 2:30 pm

While those that analyze esoteric financial trends and market conditions seem to think that the recession is easing, a large portion of the country aren’t so quick to agree. With foreclosures still prevalent and personal bankruptcies at a level close to that of 2005’s pre-code change flood, there are plenty of reasons for Americans to still be on edge about their finances.…

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Published Friday, May 14, 2010 @ 8:20 am

Don’t call him a repo man. But if you are behind on the house payments, he’s coming for your keys.

In what can only be considered a sure sign that the current housing crisis is unlike any other, banks are now deploying professional “mediators,” to visit struggling homeowners to negotiate a settlement, which usually ends up with the homeowner accepting a check and the bank changing the locks.…

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Published Thursday, April 1, 2010 @ 10:48 am

Are you feeling too broke to break out of debt? For those ready to end the cycle of debt, it is important to understand that bankruptcy is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and bankruptcy filings are complex cases catering to your individual economic needs.

Bankruptcy, like so many areas of the law, is in a constant state of evolution, having been refined and redefined over the decades and through several important pieces of legislation.…

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Published Friday, February 26, 2010 @ 4:19 pm

Everyone—from the halls of Congress to the many channels of media—is paying a ton of attention to those Americans who have lost their homes in the seemingly endless mortgage meltdown. Virtually ignored have been the millions who continue to pay their mortgage every month, even when they really can’t afford to.…

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Published Friday, February 12, 2010 @ 5:44 pm

The Making Home Affordable program was designed to be the savior of the crashing real estate economy. People nationwide were taking solace in the President’s effort to save our homes and lead us through the worst economic situation our country has faced in almost 100 years. Hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure due to the bubble bursting on a plague of poorly schemed sub-prime mortgages rejoiced in what seemed to be a cooperative effort on the part of the a supportive new Washington administration and the Wall Street.…

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Published Tuesday, February 2, 2010 @ 2:30 pm

Many of our clients automatically assume they will lose their rental property if they file for bankruptcy. Isn’t that the whole idea of bankruptcy? That you give up everything you have, with a few exceptions, in exchange for getting the debt collectors off your back?

Well, no. Many factors come in to play in determining whether or not you will be forced to sell your rental property, including whether you file chapter 7 or chapter 13, how much money you owe on the property and how much income you receive from it.…

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Published Monday, February 1, 2010 @ 4:15 pm

Can your landlord evict you if you declare bankruptcy? That depends on the circumstances. If you’re not behind on your rent, your landlord may never have to know about your bankruptcy. As long as you keep paying your rent, it’s not really his business. A landlord can’t evict you just because you filed for bankruptcy.…

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Published Sunday, January 31, 2010 @ 6:10 pm

As the mortgage crisis continues on, ironically, President Obama seemed right at home at the podium during his 2010 State of the Union address just as millions of Americans face losing their home. As a result, many concerned citizens sought in the President’s national address any signs not only of “hope” or “change”—expressions made famous during his campaign days—but also second year specifics about what a new year would mean for the millions of average Americans, just like them, facing imminent foreclosure.…

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Published Monday, January 25, 2010 @ 6:57 pm

Ugh. Debt. These days most Americans are sick of hearing the d-word. And who can blame us? Americans are in more debt now than ever before. Avoiding debt seems impossible…there are so many things you can’t even do without credit cards or loans that we now take debt as a matter of course.…

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Published Sunday, January 24, 2010 @ 8:18 am

Brent T. White, a law professor at the University of Arizona, has a provocative new study out, “Underwater and Not Walking Away.” He points out that as many as 32 percent of all homeowners are ‘underwater’ on their mortgages – they owe more money than their houses are worth. The media has produced a series of articles decrying homeowners who simply stop paying on these ‘upside down’ mortgages as irresponsible and even obscene.…

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Published Thursday, January 21, 2010 @ 11:50 am

The latest chapter in the Obama administration’s attempts to make lenders modify mortgages is to send SWAT teams – no, I’m not kidding, really, SWAT teams – into the call centers of major lenders to try to ensure that they follow the proper procedures and actually modify loans. Seriously, wouldn’t it be a whole lot easier just to pass cramdown and allow bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages than to try to sweet talk, bribe or otherwise convince bankers to do it on their own?…

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Published Tuesday, January 19, 2010 @ 11:23 am

In the Preventing Foreclosure series, you’ve received an introductory look at how to stay in your home, either through bankruptcy proceedings or via negotiations with your mortgage lender, with later discussions specifically devoted to how Chapter 13 or Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings can force creditors to end their collection activities and delay a foreclosure sale.…

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Published Tuesday, January 5, 2010 @ 1:52 pm

Foreclosure is a common precursor to bankruptcy. More often than necessary, it happens before a family really knows where to turn for help.

Worse yet, those who lose their home in foreclosure continue to spiral into debt and end up filing bankruptcy long after it could have been used to help save their home in addition to relieving them from the agony of overwhelming monthly credit card bills and other debts.…

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Published Tuesday, January 5, 2010 @ 6:29 am

The New York Times recently published an insightful article detailing the struggles of homeowners facing foreclosure in the outer boroughs of New York City. At the New York State Supreme Court building in Jamaica, Queens, they come face-to-face with the lawyers representing the banks and the loan servicers that are pursuing foreclosure on their homes.…

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Published Tuesday, December 29, 2009 @ 6:00 pm

It hardly seems fair.

Those needing help with a bad mortgage that can be blamed on banking industry profit strategies are now faced with the problem of having their credit ratings ransacked as a result of enrollment in a federally-backed mortgage modification program.

The subprime mortgage crisis forced hundreds of thousands of Americans into bankruptcy or foreclosure.…

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Published Sunday, December 27, 2009 @ 5:31 pm

If the present economic environment wasn’t Scrooge enough, just in time for the holidays, it appears the Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable foreclosure prevention plan has failed to meet its goal of helping millions of Americans avoid foreclosure.

In fact, according to a recent Treasury Department report, 27 percent of the 650,000 homeowners taking part in the mortgage modification program are now delinquent on their mortgage payments.  Reflecting the mortgage industry’s aversion to permanently modify mortgages, of that number, only 1,711 participating homeowners attempting to avoid foreclosure have been able to convert their modifications to permanent status.…

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Published Sunday, December 20, 2009 @ 6:52 am

Thus far in the Preventing Foreclosure series, you’ve received an introductory look at how to hold on to your home; learned the best ways to work with your mortgage lender; and were provided with a more permanent plan to keep your house through Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

But Chapter 13 isn’t the only option for average Americans struggling with mortgage debt and facing foreclosure.…

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Published Friday, December 18, 2009 @ 7:21 pm

Last Friday, the House of Representatives passed a wide-reaching swath of financial reforms, designed to reign in the worse excesses of the banking industry. Democratic lawmakers are hailing the bill as a huge victory for consumers. However, one important provision failed to pass: cramdown.

‘Cramdown’ would allow bankruptcy judges to reduce the principle balance of the mortgage on a primary residence in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, resulting in lower monthly payments for the filer.…

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Published Sunday, December 13, 2009 @ 6:54 pm

In Part I of the Preventing Foreclosure series, you received an introductory look at how to keep your home, with Part II of this six-part series emphasizing the power of being proactive, providing even more specifics on the best ways to prevent impending foreclosure proceedings by working directly with your mortgage lender before you find yourself falling behind.…

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Published Thursday, December 10, 2009 @ 8:37 am

In Part I of the Preventing Foreclosure series, you received an introductory look at how to stay in your home, either through bankruptcy proceedings or via negotiations with your mortgage lender. In Part II of this six-part series, we’ll elaborate on the ins and out of working with your mortgage lender, including timelines, terms, and what to say when starting this important dialogue.…

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Published Wednesday, December 9, 2009 @ 11:28 am

Of all the special programs and incentives in place to help struggling Americans during what many have now deemed “The Great Recession,” perhaps the most critical is the often debated but not often publicly discussed “mortgage cram-down” bill.

First introduced last year but shot down in the Senate in favor of the President’s “Making Home Affordable” loan modificationprogram, the cram-down provision would grant bankruptcy judges special authority over the terms of a mortgage during the bankruptcy process.…

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Published Monday, December 7, 2009 @ 7:41 pm

While mortgage companies continue to refuse lower payments to borrowers who can no longer afford their loans, millions are facing delinquency, foreclosure and the loss of their homes. But just because you’re facing tough odds doesn’t mean that you can’t plan ahead to minimize the possibility of foreclosure or mitigate the damage if you find yourself moving toward it.…

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Published Wednesday, December 2, 2009 @ 2:52 pm

Have you avoided filing bankruptcy because you’re afraid you’ll lose your home, your automobile, your personal property? You don’t have to be afraid! Bankruptcy laws protect you from becoming homeless, without a car, household goods, your jewelry, or the tools you need to do your job.

When you file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy you are allowed to protect—or, exempt—some or all of your property from being taken away from you.…

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Published Wednesday, November 25, 2009 @ 12:12 pm

Should you try to modify your mortgage before filing for bankruptcy? Bankruptcy will stop foreclosure proceedings; a Chapter 13 bankruptcy will allow you to keep your home, and to develop a payment plan to meet your back payment obligations. But it won’t necessarily lower your monthly mortgage payments. Is it worth it to try to modify your mortgage and secure lower payments first?…

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Published Monday, November 23, 2009 @ 6:49 pm

The Associated Press is reporting that the foreclosure crisis will persist well into next year as high unemployment “pushes more people out of homes, pulls down housing prices and raises concerns about the broader economic recovery.”

The latest evidence comes this week in a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association identifying that a rising tide of fixed-rate home loans made to people with good credit are now facing foreclosure, marking a surprising shift from assumptions that only riskier subprime loans are driving the current housing crisis.…

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Published Monday, October 26, 2009 @ 10:38 pm

In discussing the issues surrounding the current economy, the term “mortgage meltdown” is now officially as tired a wordplay as assemblages like “From Wall Street to Main Street,” “Where’s my bailout?” and “It’s a crisis of confidence.” Beyond these catchphrases, you might still be wondering: What is really behind this recession?…

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Published Saturday, September 26, 2009 @ 6:17 pm

One of the greatest benefits of filing for bankruptcy protection is that it allows struggling homeowners a second chance to catch up on missed mortgage payments. For many people, the fear of losing a beloved family home is one of the most stressful parts of their struggle with debt. But is your house really worth saving?…

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Published Wednesday, September 23, 2009 @ 10:41 pm

Say you find yourself struggling with a mountain of debt. Your paycheck seems to be spent before you even get it, as soon as you pay a bill another one arrives, and you’re starting to wonder how much longer you can deal with the stress of unmanageable debt. To make matters worse, you fall behind on your housing payment and your bank threatens you with foreclosure.…

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Published Monday, September 21, 2009 @ 1:49 pm

Many of us now come into marriage with some debts in tow. Some of us also arrive owning some of our own property. Once married, we incur new debts, jointly or separately; for example, one spouse may finance a car under his name, while both spouses may need to list their income together when they borrow for a new home.…

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Published Thursday, September 3, 2009 @ 9:43 am

The economy is so grim right now it’s hard to see the silver lining, but the good news about markets is that they rarely stand still forever. Even now, economists are slowly and cautiously becoming more optimistic about the situation, and consumers are gradually gaining back confidence. The housing market, for example, posted a quarterly rise in prices for the first time in three years, which may indicate a stirring of recovery.…

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Published Saturday, August 29, 2009 @ 4:56 pm

Several months ago, in the heart of the recession with no recognizable signs of clotting in America’s collective financial blood loss, the government passed on a bill to allow millions of shaky mortgages to be subject to struggling homeowners’ bankruptcy petitions. Known as the Cramdown Bill, it would have given bankruptcy judges the right to modify, or “cramdown” mortgage terms, such as interest rates and principal balances, as part of the approval of a personal bankruptcy plan.…

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Published Friday, August 21, 2009 @ 10:04 am

It’s official: Making Home Affordable isn’t owning up to its namesake.

After months of simmering frustration with the federal program designed to financially encourage lenders to be more cooperative with economically-challenged mortgage holders, it seems that the national media has finally created an outlet for the hundreds of thousands of Americans trying to sort it all out.…

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Published Sunday, August 16, 2009 @ 6:41 pm

Fear of foreclosure is certainly pushing many families into bankruptcy. Although there are now many programs, both at the state and federal level, to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, if your lender is unwilling to work with you, bankruptcy may be the only way you can stay in your home.

Unfortunately, if you don’t choose to seek help through a bankruptcy attorney or your lender, there are plenty of criminal actors out there that would be more than happy to assist in escaping your financial woes.…

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Published Thursday, August 6, 2009 @ 1:21 pm

The month of July 2009 saw yet another increase in the number of consumer bankruptcies filed in the U.S., as low employment and high consumer debt continues to be a toxic combination throughout most of the country with only little signs that an antidote can be found. The number of filings, 126,434, was a 34.3 percent increase from the same month in 2009 and 8.7 percent increase from June, 2009.…

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Published Tuesday, August 4, 2009 @ 6:20 am

Sometimes life throws you the unexpected. If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, all it takes is one unanticipated expense to put you on the path to a truly disastrous financial scenario. It’s often the unforeseen emergency expense which starts the ball rolling. Soon you’re 2 or 3 months behind on the car payment, and repossession of your car or foreclosure becomes a very real possibility.…

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Published Wednesday, July 8, 2009 @ 11:11 am

So you’ve had a few mishaps lately in your financial life– like just about everybody else in America. And you’ve been working really hard to keep up the juggling act: spread the minimum amount of money around to the maximum number of creditors to appease them until you finally get a break.…

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Published Monday, July 6, 2009 @ 11:47 am

Are you hopelessly behind on your mortgage payments and wondering what to do about it? People in your shoes typically do one of three things: (1) try to convince the bank to just take whatever the property can fetch on the market (a “short sale”); (2) just let the bank foreclose; or (3) file bankruptcy.…

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Published Friday, June 26, 2009 @ 9:02 am

The sad fact is, these days nobody is immune to financial troubles. This includes people who have worked hard their entire lives, all the while looking forward to reaping the rewards of their hard work in a restful, stress-free retirement. So what happens to seniors when they run into serious financial trouble?…

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Published Wednesday, June 17, 2009 @ 12:39 pm

No doubt about it: Times are tough.  You, like so many others, may be looking to grab onto any life-line you’ve got. For many of us, the only major investment we have is our home, so it’s not only a natural place to start, it might look like the only tool in the arsenal.…

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Published Saturday, June 13, 2009 @ 10:32 am

We have put a lot on the blog about how your home can be affected by bankruptcy. Hopefully, you’ve read through some of those posts. If not, simply do a search to find as much as you can about the topic because knowing how bankruptcy affects where you lay your head down at night can be very helpful to you and your family.…

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Published Tuesday, June 9, 2009 @ 11:10 am

As you are probably well aware, bankruptcy is an important decision that should not be taken lightly. If you are eligible to file but hesitate to do so, you stand to lose more than you may guess. Dithering too long can ruin the strategic advantage of timing; deciding not to file at all could cause you to lose everything.…

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Published Wednesday, June 3, 2009 @ 12:15 pm

Our blog sure does cover a lot of ground about bankruptcy. Which is a good thing. We want to be sure that you understand all the processes, terms, principles and philosophies that factor into such an important decision. We even throw in some recent news about bankruptcy to help provide additional “real world” perspective on how bankruptcy laws are interpreted and applied.…

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Published Tuesday, June 2, 2009 @ 4:28 pm

Scam artists sure are brave. Well, there are probably more accurate ways to describe those who deliberately take aim at people in dire financial straits. They just are not fit to be published.

Turns out the Federal Trade Commission has spotted a series of deceptive Internet advertisements that claimed to lead browsers to the “official” Web site of the recently introduced Making Home Affordable program, a national effort that provides free mortgage loan assistance and encourages banks and lenders to help homeowners stay afloat.…

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Published Tuesday, May 26, 2009 @ 4:00 pm

Despite the defeat of the mortgage cramdown bill that would have allowed bankruptcy judges more power to renegotiate mortgages on behalf of those seeking relief, the Obama administration is realizing some slow success with its heavily touted foreclosure prevention program.

Mortgages eligible for the program started to be serviced last month and to date, 55,000 home loans have been subjected to modification as a way to alleviate the financial pain caused by sub-prime loan interest rate spikes.…

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Published Sunday, May 24, 2009 @ 6:42 pm

Whether you file bankruptcy under Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, pretty much everything you own at the time you file the petition becomes property of the “bankruptcy estate”. Sounds bad, right? Wrong! Just because property is included in the bankruptcy estate doesn’t mean your creditors can get their hands on it.…

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Published Friday, May 1, 2009 @ 9:10 pm

On the eve of success for a very valuable piece of legislation that will instill a new set of guidelines for credit card companies’ communication of interest rate hikes, fees and other monetary stipulations to consumers, a banking bill provision aimed to do similar justice for Americans struggling with mortgage debt and bankruptcy was shot down in the Senate on the last day of April.…

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Published Thursday, April 30, 2009 @ 1:09 pm

If your debt problems are beginning to wear you down, like they are for so many people today, it’s important that you remain aware of the fact that there are people looking to further erode your unstable financial position to better their own. Unfortunately, financial “help” begins to show up in many forms, from payday lenders to credit counselors to phony financial counselors.…

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Published Sunday, April 12, 2009 @ 3:00 am

Are you struggling with debt and considering bankruptcy? It helps to know that you’re not alone. According to the National Bankruptcy Research Center, almost 1.1 million people filed for bankruptcy in 2008. That’s up 33 percent from 2007, when around 800,000 people filed, and even more from the year before, when some 590,000 people sought bankruptcy protection.…

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Published Monday, April 6, 2009 @ 3:47 pm

Are you one of the thousands of people across the country who got caught up in the turmoil of the home mortgage meltdown? Are you afraid of losing your home and wondering what to do? First ask yourself whether you want to save your home or whether you are willing to let it go.  Whichever decision you make, bankruptcy can help you and your family with a fresh start.…

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