Can I Stop Foreclosure by Filing for Bankruptcy?

The number of foreclosure filings in the United States has come down since 2011, but the data will still shock you as there were a total of 956,864 filings in 2016 and 203,108 home repossessions. The foreclosure rate as of June 2017 is 1 in every 1,789 homes, with the top states being New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut, and Florida.

Thankfully, the other states are doing better, but are not without concerns. Take Arizona, for example.

The foreclosure rate in Arizona is 1 in every 2,758 homes, which is better than the national average. However, the foreclosure rate in Arizona is up 20% over last year, even though nationally it is coming down, making this a cause for worry. What happens to your home if you are filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Arizona because you might have also fallen behind on your mortgage payments? Will you be able to keep your home, or will the lender take it away? By understanding a little about bankruptcy help in Scottsdale and across the state, you can prevent home foreclosure.

Get a Stay Order

The court will issue an ‘order for relief’ automatically when you file for bankruptcy. Once you have the ‘automatic stay’, the creditors have no other option but to cease all collection activities immediately. Even if your home is already scheduled for foreclosure, it is going to be legally postponed, usually for 3 to 4 months. This will give you the much needed time to make alternative arrangements, perhaps even to pay back the money.

There Are Two Exceptions

You may not get the ‘automatic stay’ order in these two cases,

• The lender may get permission from the bankruptcy court to proceed with the sale. In this case, you may not have the full 3 to 4 months. But even then, you will be able to postpone the sale by 2 months at least.

• The automatic stay order cannot help you if the foreclosure sale notice has already been issued. The lender can file a motion for lifting the stay and can ask the court for permission to schedule a sale.

How Filing for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Helps

You Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing will let you pay the ‘arrearage’ or unpaid payments over a long time, sometimes up to 5 years. However, you need to be earning enough to make the current mortgage as well as the arrearage payments. You can avoid foreclosure if you are able to make these payments till the end of the repayment plan.

Chapter 13 might also eliminate the payments on your 2nd or 3rd mortgage.

Chapter 7 and Foreclosure

You cannot cancel the foreclosure with Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing. But you will get an exemption from the tax liability on losses a lender incurs when you default.

When you purchased the home, you had to sign two documents – a promissory note for repaying the loan, and a security agreement that can be recorded as a lien for enforcing performance on the promissory note. You can get rid of the personal liability with Chapter 7, but not the lien.

Many of us work hard to make enough money to buy a home. But a lot of people fall behind on the mortgage and lose their home because of an economic downturn. Filing for bankruptcy provides a much-needed second chance. You will get the all-important time to find alternatives, structure a new payment plan and eventually save your home.

Is Your Credit Score Six Feet Under? It Might Be This ...

Having a great credit score makes life a lot easier, especially when it comes to getting access to credit. But what happens if your credit score is six feet under? Well, that can make life a lot more difficult, especially if you want to buy a house or a car.

The problem with credit scores is that it isn’t immediately obvious what affects them. Of course, you want to avoid foreclosure and make sure that you pay off your credit cards on time. But it turns out that credit scores can also be affected by subtle means, many of which you wouldn’t normally consider.

Here are some of the reasons why your credit score might be dead and buried.

You Keep Closing Old Credit Cards

You might think to yourself, “so what, if I want to close a credit card?” But it turns out that closing cards you don’t need can affect your overall credit score.

The main reason for this is that it affects the “average age of your credit accounts.” Having an old credit card means that you have had access to credit for longer and, therefore, according to the rating agencies, are more trustworthy with credit. Canceling your old accounts reduces the average age of your accounts, suggesting to new lenders that you might not be as creditworthy as you first appear.

Many Card Inquiries At Once

Another problem that a lot of people have is making many inquiries all at once. It might seem like a good idea to sign up for a bunch of different card schemes to take advantage of loyalty points, but it can backfire.

The reason is that taking out multiple cards is usually a signal that you’ve gotten yourself into money trouble. If it looks like you're desperate for money, agencies will lower your credit score and force the interest rates that you pay up. These hikes could ultimately cancel out any benefit you derive from collecting points and cashback on different cards.

Your Utilization Ratio Is Up

Banks define the utilization ratio as the balance outstanding, divided by the credit limit. The closer the loan outstanding is to the credit limit, the higher the ratio will be.

Higher ratios are a problem because they indicate that you’re getting closer and closer to maxing out your card. Rather than seeing this as just your desire to have money now rather than later, credit rating agencies interpret it as a sign of distress.

A good rule of thumb is to make sure that your utilization ratio stays below 25 percent.

Just be warned that a utilization ratio of 0 percent isn’t a good idea either. A zero rating means that you’re not using credit at all and ratings agencies don’t have anything to judge you on.

Sometimes your utilization ratio can get too high, especially if you only pay off your credit card once per month. Experts suggest, therefore, that people who spend a lot of money on their cards organize to pay off some of their balance multiple times per month to keep their utilization ratio in check.

Beat Home Foreclosure With These Brilliant Tips

Owning a home is a great experience. There is nothing like getting the keys to a new property and turning it into your dream home. Sometimes, though, not everything goes as planned. It is not uncommon for lots of homeowners to default on their mortgages and for their homes to go into foreclosure. When this happens, your home is at the mercy of the banks unless you act fast and turn the situation around. Luckily for the people reading this who are trying to fight foreclosure, it is possible to win the battle.

Obtain Legal Aid

The most important thing to do is to hire a very competent lawyer. Of course, you may not have the money to hire the best lawyers in town because you are struggling with a home foreclosure. Still, there are attorneys on the market that are very skillful and who are also very affordable, so make sure you find one. Lawyers are essential because they know all the tricks of the trade. Their knowledge of the law may allow you to benefit from a loophole that you never knew existed. Or, they may be able to thrash out favorable terms for you to repay your debts. At the least, they will extend the process, which will allow you to stay in your home for a longer period.

File For Bankruptcy

One other trick is to file for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy, in America, takes place in a federal court, whereas foreclosure takes place in a state court. In basic terms, the federal court has jurisdiction over every other court in the land. That means your file for bankruptcy takes precedent over your home foreclosure. While the bankruptcy proceedings take place, the foreclosure proceedings have to wait for anywhere up to five years or 60 months. During this time, you can use your ‘second life’ to get your finances in order and to start paying your mortgage. By the time the five-year period ends, the foreclosure on your property should be a thing of the past.

Sell Your Home

Okay, if you sell your home you won’t own it anymore. But, if you let the foreclosure take place, you won’t own anything, and your credit score will take a huge hit. By selling, you can, at least, use the money to pay off the mortgage and start over again. The only problem is finding a buyer that will take a home in foreclosure. Thankfully, there are one or two vendors that will take properties regardless of their current status. If you want to sell your house fast, take a look at the link for more information. Or, keep your eyes posted for a private buyer who wants to make a deal that benefits both parties.

Get A Low-Interest Loan

Finally, you can go down the conventional route – take on more debt to pay off the big debt. Although it sounds stupid, it is a good plan if you do it properly. To do it right, you need a low-interest loan that doesn’t accumulate too much money while you pay off your mortgage. That way, you can tackle one debt and you don’t have to worry about the remaining debt.

It gives you time and a bit of breathing space.

Mortgage after facing foreclosure

Foreclosure is not so hard situation to overcome. In this situation people think that they will never be able to buy house again. They can think that because no bank will lend to a foreclosure victim? Wrong, a foreclosure victim can also get mortgage again by keeping some basic rules in mind. By taking right decision at the right time helps people in overcoming foreclosure situation and getting mortgage again.

Affects of foreclosure?

Right away after foreclosure it is not so easy get mortgage or even qualify. Down payment and interest rate requirement are very high. Foreclosure affects the credit rating up to 250 points. Applicant can get 75-80% loan on the purchase price of the property by the bank. Down-payment requirement by most of the banks can be as high as 35% and the interest rate might be up to 10%.

What to do for qualifying to get new mortgage after foreclosure?

To qualify for a new mortgage one has to work hard,have to follow some strategies like making a saving plan, work for good credit score etc. After foreclosure one should do everything for repairing credit ratings and side by side have to do some savings also. These savings helps the buyer in giving down-payment at the time of new mortgage. Down-payment reduces the default risk and helps in getting mortgage.

Simple mistakes to avoid after foreclosure?

After foreclosure usual mistakes that people do like they mess up with the payments of other open credit lines. If they missed or delay payments of different debts than it will take a lot of time in repairing credit ratings. So its better to make other debts payments on time to improve credit ratings.

How to improve credit rating?

Firstly one should see ones credit report and then work accordingly for credit ratings step by step . Credit repairing is not so easy after foreclosure so it will take up to 1-2 years. By taking small loans and doing on time payments on different debts helps in improving credit ratings. One should regularly check or maintain credit accounts positively . There are number of ways to increase homeowners credit rating. One is the third party credit repair. In third party repair professionals competent in their work handles your credit ratings. Other way is to post mortgage questions to different forum websites. Basically on these forum websites Experts solve all the queries and shows the right way out .

Summarizing above, foreclosure does not indicate that an individual will not qualify to get mortgage again. It does indicate that one has to plan a better strategy to become eligible again. Extra savings help to accumulate money for the down payment of new mortgage and that savings can be helpful in any harder times in future.

Good foreclosures finding tips.

Always most of the real estate professionals are telling that this ideal time to purchase new property. There are wide ranges of foreclosed properties are there in the market with. And most of them are in affordable prices with huge rebates. And here you will find some financial facilities with some very attractive attachments. But you need to follow proper steps. First you need to choose a property which is in a good position as per your choice. Because options are huge but the right one is very less. And also finding foreclosures with all of your requirements is not an easy task.

If you have decided that you want to go for foreclosed property then you might have search all the possible ways to find the best one for you. Actually lender will filing one notice about foreclosure property & that will be for the public & everyone has access to it. In this way you may get the best foreclosed property. It may time taking that every time you need to search the new one but as we know effort will works. If you have started working on this topic just keep one thing in your mind that to complete the legal matters of that particular property might have take more than one year. So, for searching the ideal one you need to follow all topic related magazines, newsletters which offer default property listing. And searching through internet is one of the best way because you will get as per your requirement as its very user-friendly.

As I have told you that finding foreclosure property is little bit time consuming so you need to decide whether you are allowing yourself to do that because in this way you will not only find the small property with affordable costs, you will find the deluxe properties also. So, searching takes a major part to find the best one for you.