Facing Foreclosure or Repossession? A Bankruptcy Attorney Can Help
If you are in danger of having your home foreclosed or having your car repossessed, a New Jersey bankruptcy attorney may be able to help you. It is important to act very quickly, so contact a bankruptcy attorney right away to learn about your options and to hopefully help to save your vehicle or home.
How Does a Bankruptcy Attorney Help?
When you file for bankruptcy in the state of New Jersey (or anywhere in the United States), the bankruptcy law stipulates that an automatic stay goes into effect. An automatic stay means that all collections activities and efforts to collect money from you need to stop. Not only do creditors have to stop calling your home, but the bank also has to stop the foreclosure process and the lender on your car loan has to stop repossession.
Filing for bankruptcy, therefore, can buy you time. Of course, the lender on your car loan or the lender on your mortgage isn't necessarily going to be stopped forever just because you filed for bankruptcy. They can seek relief from the automatic stay and ask the court to allow them to collect. However, this all takes time and when you have filed for bankruptcy, the automatic stay gives you time to try to work out an alternative solution to keep your home or car.
Not only that, but the bankruptcy filing may make the lenders more willing to work with you. A bankruptcy attorney will assist you in understanding what your options are to try to keep the car or home and to find a more permanent solution.
Saving Your Home or Car
Once the automatic stay has gone into effect, the bankruptcy attorney you are working with can help you to consider permanent options for saving your home. These options can vary depending upon your situation. For example, you may be able to negotiate a mortgage adjustment with the bank through one of the Hope for Homeowner's programs put into place by the government. In all cases, however, you will have to reaffirm some type of mortgage debt, get current on the debt and be able to make your payments to keep your home.
However, you may be able to have the second mortgage on your home reclassified as unsecured debt. This is a process called lien stripping that is available on a second mortgage, third mortgage or other mortgages that aren't the primary mortgage on the home. If your home is worth equal to what you owe on the first mortgage or less than what you owe on the first mortgage, then the second mortgage isn't really a secured loan. Lien stripping recognizes this and reclassifies it as unsecured, at which point it can be included in a chapter 13 bankruptcy repayment plan. Your New Jersey bankruptcy attorney can help you to understand the implications of this and how it can help you to save your house.
When it comes to saving your car, you'll also have to pay the loan just as you do with your mortgage. However, if your car is worth less than you owe, your bankruptcy lawyer may be able to help you to explore options to "cram down" the amount you owe on the car so it becomes equal to the actual vehicle worth.
To learn more about these options and other possible ways to save your home or vehicle when facing foreclosure or repossession, contact a bankruptcy lawyer as soon as possible.
How Does a Bankruptcy Attorney Help?
When you file for bankruptcy in the state of New Jersey (or anywhere in the United States), the bankruptcy law stipulates that an automatic stay goes into effect. An automatic stay means that all collections activities and efforts to collect money from you need to stop. Not only do creditors have to stop calling your home, but the bank also has to stop the foreclosure process and the lender on your car loan has to stop repossession.
Filing for bankruptcy, therefore, can buy you time. Of course, the lender on your car loan or the lender on your mortgage isn't necessarily going to be stopped forever just because you filed for bankruptcy. They can seek relief from the automatic stay and ask the court to allow them to collect. However, this all takes time and when you have filed for bankruptcy, the automatic stay gives you time to try to work out an alternative solution to keep your home or car.
Not only that, but the bankruptcy filing may make the lenders more willing to work with you. A bankruptcy attorney will assist you in understanding what your options are to try to keep the car or home and to find a more permanent solution.
Saving Your Home or Car
Once the automatic stay has gone into effect, the bankruptcy attorney you are working with can help you to consider permanent options for saving your home. These options can vary depending upon your situation. For example, you may be able to negotiate a mortgage adjustment with the bank through one of the Hope for Homeowner's programs put into place by the government. In all cases, however, you will have to reaffirm some type of mortgage debt, get current on the debt and be able to make your payments to keep your home.
However, you may be able to have the second mortgage on your home reclassified as unsecured debt. This is a process called lien stripping that is available on a second mortgage, third mortgage or other mortgages that aren't the primary mortgage on the home. If your home is worth equal to what you owe on the first mortgage or less than what you owe on the first mortgage, then the second mortgage isn't really a secured loan. Lien stripping recognizes this and reclassifies it as unsecured, at which point it can be included in a chapter 13 bankruptcy repayment plan. Your New Jersey bankruptcy attorney can help you to understand the implications of this and how it can help you to save your house.
When it comes to saving your car, you'll also have to pay the loan just as you do with your mortgage. However, if your car is worth less than you owe, your bankruptcy lawyer may be able to help you to explore options to "cram down" the amount you owe on the car so it becomes equal to the actual vehicle worth.
To learn more about these options and other possible ways to save your home or vehicle when facing foreclosure or repossession, contact a bankruptcy lawyer as soon as possible.
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