Is your home being foreclosed on in Maui? Do you feel like you have no options left and nowhere to turn except losing your home? If this is you then you should consider calling Blake Goodman Attorney. Our Maui office offers foreclosure defense options to help anyone that is in need of defense and advice for when their house is nearing foreclosure.
Our team of experts have experience with bankruptcy, debt resolution, and other means that have led to foreclosures across the country. Our experience in these areas make us knowledgeable in not only what causes foreclosures on homes, but how we can maybe help prevent foreclosures of your home.
When we bring you on as a client we will always do our best to help you and will try to find the best possible solution for you based on your situation.
What is a foreclosure?
A foreclosure is a legal proceeding in which a creditor – typically the mortgage lender – attempts to take control of your property with the intent to sell the property on a defaulted mortgage. Most times, the lender forecloses on a property when a borrower fails to make their mortgage payments. The lender is basically asking the court for permission to take the property back.
While many foreclosures are initiated by the mortgage lender, if the property has a homeowner’s or community association, the association may foreclose on the property as well.
Unfortunately, even if you give up the property, that does not necessarily mean that you are rid of the debts that are related to your home. In Hawaii, the bank that you received your mortgage through can sometimes get a deficiency judgment. This will allow them the opportunity to not only foreclose your home but then continue to demand that you pay back any remaining debts that the foreclosed home did not cover.
How can bankruptcy stop a foreclosure?
When a debtor files for bankruptcy, whether Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, the bankruptcy filing imposes an automatic stay. The automatic stay is one of the most powerful tools in a bankruptcy. The automatic stay stops almost all collections activities, including pending foreclosures. Even if a home has already been put on sale the sale will be postponed for three to four months due to your bankruptcy.
How a Chapter 13 helps with a foreclosure?
If you are looking to save the property, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy will allow you to pay off those missed payments over a three to five year period. In order to complete your Chapter 13 plan, you will need to be able to pay both your arrearage payment and your ongoing mortgage payments at the same time.
If you make all of the payments under both your Chapter 13 repayment plan and your ongoing mortgage payments, you should be able to avoid foreclosure and remain in your home.
If you are unsure of how you can possibly pay off your debt during a three to five year period then please work with us. Our experience with debt settlement and bankruptcy gives us a thorough understanding of what we can do to best help you take your debt and slash through it in the three to five year period that is necessary to pay it off.
How a Chapter 7 helps with a foreclosure?
If you know that you will not able to get caught up within five years or you want to surrender the property, you may consider a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy provides a short delay in a pending foreclosure. The foreclosure proceeding is typically stopped while a chapter 7 bankruptcy is pending – which is usually three to four months.
Receiving a discharge in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy relieves your personal obligation to pay your creditors back. This does not mean that you get to keep the home without paying the lender for those missed payments. The lender still retains a right in your property even though your personal liability gets discharged in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. What a Chapter 7 discharge will do is relieve you of any foreclosure deficiency judgment. It will also discharge any homeowner’s association amounts owed up until the day the bankruptcy is filed.
Know that once the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case is over, the lender may continue foreclosing on the property.
Can the lender continue with a foreclosure after a bankruptcy filing?
A lender could ask the bankruptcy court for permission to continue with a foreclosure. If this happens, the lender may continue with a foreclosure even while your bankruptcy case is pending. In a Chapter 13, this is typically due to failure to maintain the ongoing mortgage payments that come due after the Chapter 13 case is filed. If you are trying to remain in your home, it is important that you not only make your payments under your repayment plan but also ensuring that you pay your lender directly for all payments that come due after your bankruptcy case is filed.
What happens to my credit after foreclosure?
After your home has been foreclosed on the foreclosure will remain on your name for at least seven years. This will be damaging to your credit in the beginning, but what is important is that you can recover from this and your credit can recover as well.
Throughout the years we have worked with hundreds of bankruptcies and seen plenty of foreclosures. Despite this we have managed to help many of our clients make a full credit recovery and through our 2 years to a 720 Credit Score program we can help you rebuild your credit. This is a great option for anyone that has just gone through bankruptcy and needs a way to raise their credit back up.
Have questions?
We understand that foreclosure is going to be extremely complicated and it will be difficult to fully understand every aspect of it. That is why our expert team will do our best to explain to you the process of foreclosure, what it will do to your home, how you may be able to keep your home, and what your options are if you are not able to keep your home.
If you bring us on to help you with your foreclosure we will do our best to get you the best available option. Whether we can help you keep your home or not will depend entirely on your situation, but we will do our best to pursue all options available to you.
What is important to understand is that you can recover from this. Allow us to help you recover. Feel free to give us a call at 808-426-2004 or use our online contact form.