If you want to file Chapter 13 bankruptcy to stop the foreclosure of your home, don’t wait until the last second to file.  If you want to stop the foreclosure, you must understand that there is no guarantee that a law office will have time to squeeze you in at the end of the month.  You never know what may prevent you from being able to get to a bankruptcy attorney at the last second.

April 2011 has been a rough weather month for Northwest Georgia.  Last night, Rome was under a tornado warning.  The Rome News Tribune reports that over 30,000 people are without power.  Floyd County schools are closed today because of the power outage.  The Cartersville Daily News Tribune reports that Grassdale Road got hit pretty hard by the storm as well.  I have a friend in Cave Spring whose house was destroyed by this storm.  Berry College has over 150 trees down.  Yesterday, no one could leave that campus for a few hours because the entrance and exits were blocked by the downed trees.

With this crazy weather, you never know what may block you from getting to wherever you need to go.

Waiting until the last second to file Chapter 13 to stop a foreclosure is a bad idea.  I spoke with a bankruptcy client from Cartersville, Georgia yesterday who wants to wait until this Friday to file his case because he is hoping that the mortgage company will come through with a loan modification at the last second to stop the foreclosure of his Cartersville home.  What if they don’t?  Fortunately for my Cartersville client and for me, all of my offices have electricity this week.  We won’t have any problems stopping foreclosures this month.

As a general rule, foreclosures take place the first Tuesday of every month.  Once your house is cried out on the courthouse steps, your house is gone.  No excuses about bad storms or no electricity will undo a foreclosure of your home.

Why wait until the last second?  If the mortgage company was going to work with you to keep your house, don’t you think they would have done so before they paid an attorney to start the foreclosure proceedings?  Don’t you think they would have worked with you before they started advertising your house for foreclosure in the local paper?

There is no excuse in waiting until the last second.  Take a lot of stress off yourself and your bankruptcy attorney and take care of business well before the foreclosure date.

Related Posts:

1.  How Fast Do I need to file bankruptcy to stop a foreclosure in Georgia?

2.  Bankruptcy – When is it too late to file in Georgia?

3.  How Much Does it to file bankruptcy?

4.  Should I file bankruptcy or short sale my house?

The foreclosure crisis was supposed to end with help from the federal government. Consumer Bankruptcy News reports in the May 6, 2010 issue that the response of the federal government to the mortgage crisis is too slow.  The article reports that is has “been more than one year since President Obama announced the establishment of the Making Home Affordable initiative that included the Home Affordable Modification Plan.”  The plan was supposed to help between 7 and 9 million families restructure their mortgages and save their homes from foreclosure by the mortgage companies.  The article goes on to report that “the actual number of homeowners who have received final, five-year loan modifications through the program administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury stands at 168,708.

The Congressional Oversight Panel’s April 2010 report entitled, Evaluating Progress of Tarp Foreclosure Mitigation Programs, “finds that Treasury is still struggling to get its foreclosure programs off the ground even as the crisis continues unabated.”  The report also states that in 2009, 2.8 million homeowners received a foreclosure notice,and one in four homeowners with a mortgage currently has negative equity. While housing prices have begun to stabilize in many regions, home values in several metropolitan areas continue to fall sharply.”

I have personally witnessed in my Dallas, Rome, Cartersville and Dalton Georgia office locations that consumers are not getting the promised federal help they need to stop the foreclosure of their homes.  While I have seen a few loan modifications approved even after my clients have filed Chapter 13, most loan modification applications have been denied.  I have been shocked how many mortgage companies are aggressively pursuing foreclosure in this dreadful market.

The good news is that Chapter 13 stops foreclosure   In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, we can eliminate credit card debt and medical debt.  As a result, most consumers find it much easier to make their future mortgage payments when they no longer have worry about their past due credit card debts and medical debts.

I think anyone who might be interested in keeping their house should explore Chapter 13 as an option before deciding to do a short sale or let the house foreclose. In a Chapter 13, we can take the payments that you are behind on and put them into a payment plan that will work for you. If you are in a position not able to make the future mortgage payments on your house, Chapter 13 may not be the best answer.

A short sale is when the lender agrees to take a lower price for a house than the amount owed to the lender.  The main advantage of a short sale is that it protects your credit score from the damage of a foreclosure   A short sale might be a good option for someone whose only debt problem is a house that can’t be sold for the amount owed.  People who owe credit card debt, medical debt, car debt, and other types of debt should explore Chapter 13 and Chapter 7 before making a decision to short sale.

Amy Cochran, a short sale specialist from Cartersville, says that one of the most common mistakes she sees people make after they fall behind on house payments is that they move out of the house before the mortgage company takes any action against the house.  When a house is empty, it is much more difficult to get a short sale completed.

It can’t hurt to explore all options.  Weigh the pros and cons of each option before making your decision.

We serve Calhoun and all of Gordon County with our offices located in Rome, Dalton and Cartersville. I look forward to meeting with you soon.

The answer to “when will the house be foreclosed on in Georgia” is that it depends on your mortgage company. Some companies move really fast. Other take up a year before they get around to finally conducting the foreclosure sale in Georgia.

Here is what the mortgage company must do in Georgia to foreclose on your house.  First, they must advertise your house for four weeks prior to the foreclosure date.  In all likelihood, you will receive a flood of advertisements once your house is being advertised. Pay attention to the mail you receive. A few months ago, I met with a man that lived in Hiram Georgia whose wife was hiding the mail from him. She was so stressed out that she did not open the mail. As a result, their house got foreclosed and they didn’t even know it! Read your mail!

Normally, foreclosures are conducted the first Tuesday of each month.  Holidays can mess up this general rule.  If you are in the middle of the month and your house is not being advertised in the legal organ of your county, you have at least forty days before the foreclosure can take place because the mortgage company will have to wait until next month to begin to advertise your house.

Second, the mortgage company is required to send you notification of the foreclosure   You should have at least four weeks notice of the foreclosure date.  Notice to you is generally accomplished by sending you a certified letter. When the mailman shows up to your house and leaves that green sticky thing on your door, don’t ignore it. Drive to your local Georgia Post Office and get that letter so that you know what is coming down the pipe.

Chapter 13 can stop the foreclosure and save your house. Take advantage of a free consultation and meet with a bankruptcy attorney.

Other Posts:

1. What is Chapter 13?

2. What is Chapter 7?

3. How much does it cost to file?

4.  Stop Garnishment

5.  Stop Foreclosure

The answer to this question is maybe.  If you have a foreclosure scheduled against you, you should file Chapter 13 to stop the foreclosure and save your home.  I have had so many clients where someone from the mortgage company called and told the homeowner that they would try to work something out to stop the foreclosure   Nothing got worked out, and they lost their home.  Ask yourself this question, “If the mortgage is willing to work with me, why did they file the foreclosure action against me in the first place?”  If your mortgage company says they are going to call off the foreclosure, GET IT IN WRITING before the foreclosure date.  If you are considering Chapter 13 to the stop the foreclosure, call me today at 888-832-8249 for your free consultation.  We need time to get your paperwork prepared.  Don’t wait until the last second.

If someone tells you to pay them money so that they can “renegotiate your loan,” don’t do it!  There are so many scams.  Take advantage of a free consultation with an attorney and let a bankruptcy attorney review any offers you are considering.

If you want a loan modification, you can speak to your mortgage company directly.  You don’t need to pay anyone to help you with any type of loan modification.  Go to the Federal Trade Commission website and read all about the foreclosure scams. Call the FTC at 888-HOPE-NOW.

I was speaking with a client from my Dallas GA office a few months ago who was victimized by one these scams.  She actually mailed some company in Florida $600 to get her loan renegotiated.  This company did absolutely nothing for my client accept take her money.  The FTC has really started cracking down hard on these types of scams.

Yes.  If you file Chapter 13 and are able to continue to make regular monthly mortgage payments, your house cannot be foreclosed on while you are in Chapter 13    The important question is, “Can you afford your future payments?”  If so, Chapter 13 is a great option for you.  Any past due payments on your mortgage can be put into your Chapter 13 plan.

In my experience, I have seen many clients who have been forced to file either Chapter 13 or Chapter 7 because of a recent divorce.  When the household income is cut in half but the household expenses remain the same, paying credit card debt is impossible.

A common post-divorce example is that each spouse is ordered by a divorce judge to pay half of all joint debts.  When one person gets into a situation where they can’t pay, the other person often hauls them back into divorce court for a contempt proceeding for not paying the joint debt.  Usually the cause of one spouse not paying is a loss of job or new expenses from a new marriage/new family.  Contempt proceedings in divorce court may get the nonpaying ex-spouse to come up with funds to avoid going to jail in the short term but the underlying situation does not change.  Whatever the cause, the nonpaying ex-spouse cannot pay.  This cycle continues until the person who has been paying their side of the debts can no longer afford to pay an attorney to keep hauling the other person into divorce court.  After thousands of dollars and heartache, both end up filing bankruptcy.

Couples who are under financial strain should consider bankruptcy before the divorce.  It does not cost anything to meet with me and let me analyze your situation.  Perhaps the removal of the financial strain might save the marriage?

If you have decided to file bankruptcy in Northwest Georgia, the next step is to call my office at 1-888-832-8249 to schedule an appointment.  I have offices located throughout Northwest Georgia in Dalton, Cartersville, Rome and Dallas.  Currently, I take late evening appointments in Rome on Thursdays.

During this first appointment, we will go over your income and budget so that we can come up with a plan that works for you.  You need to have idea of your monthly expenses.  For example, how much do you spend on gas each week?  How much do you spend on food?  How much are your out of pocket medical expenses each month?  How much is your automobile expenses each month?  How much does your cell phone cost each month?  How much does your electricity cost?

Please bring a recent paystub.  We need to know how much money you have each month to use toward your expenses.  How much do you net each week after taxes and insurance are deducted from your paycheck?  Do you have income from any other source like child support or alimony?

We will also need a list of all of your creditors.  On this list, we need names of creditors, creditor mailing addresses, and amounts owed.  A credit report is a great place to start making your list.  However, not every creditor reports to the credit agencies.  As a result, you will need to go through your monthly statements from your creditors.  If you having trouble locating an address for a creditor, google is a great place to find them.

It does not cost anything to come and talk to us.

This first appointment usually takes around 30 minutes.  The second appointment is where you sign the bankruptcy petition.  This appointment will usually take two hours.  I like to go over every single page of the petition with you so that you feel confident that everything is correct.