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“The number of U.S. homes entering the foreclosure process because of nonpayment on mortgages rose to 130,511 in January, 25% more than in January 2006, according to data released Monday by Realtytrac Inc.
The foreclosure rate was one for every 886 U.S. households.”
You are not alone.
(Quoting article by Rex Nutting)
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If your house is in foreclosure and you wish to save it, call me or another attorney NOW!
Waiting may limit your options.
All Oklahoma residential foreclosures follow certain steps. At each point in the process you begin to lose rights and the ability to save your home. Time is not on your side.
- You must be served with a Petition (or Complaint) and Summons. If you have any doubts whether or not you have been served, call me or another attorney immediately.
- The summons will specify how long you have in which to file an Answer.
- An Answer is a pleading that you file with the court disputing the allegations in the petition and raising any viable defenses or claims against the lender that you might have.
- After the answer date the lender must then take a Judgment against you.
- If you did not file an Answer, you may not know when the Judgment is entered against you.
- After the judgment has been entered, the lender will set the property for Sheriff's Sale; and
- Finally, the lender will have the Sheriff's Sale confirmed by the Court.
- Once the Sheriff's Sale has been confirmed by the Court, you will have lost all rights to the property. At this point, there will probably be nothing that I can do for you to help you save your home. It will belong to someone else.
- The amount of time it takes a lender to complete the foreclosure process varies widely. Raising legitimate defenses and other claims can delay the process significantly. However, in Oklahoma the prevailing party can recover costs and attorneys fees from the other side. So, if you raise defenses or claims that you do not win, you may substantially increase the size of the Judgment taken against you. If you then try to save your home by refinancing or by filing a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, you will find it considerably more expensive to save your home.
Each step in the foreclosure process begins to limit your rights and ability to save your home. Do not delay any longer. If you have been sued for foreclosure or if you think a foreclosure suit is imminent contact me, or another attorney, today.
If you are in foreclosure and wish to save your house, your options include:
1. Bringing the mortgage current (which the lender may or may not allow);
2. Workout or loss mitigation procedures available through your lender. There are links in the left side bar under the heading “Useful Resources” to FHA and VA loss mitigation requirements. These will apply to all FHA or VA mortgages;
3. Refinancing the house and paying off the existing loan;
4. Filing a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy which can enable you to get caught up on your mortgage over a period of up to 60 months; or
5. Defending the foreclosure case by filing legitimate defenses to the foreclosure which could include a violation of the appropriate loss mitigation procedures, failure to properly credit payments, improper accounting or any legitimate defense that you may have.
If you believe that you have a legitimate defense to the foreclosure suit filed against you. Then, you need to CALL ME or another attorney as soon as possible after you have been served. Time is not on your side.
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You can save your house. For many people, the most effective way to save a house in foreclosure is to file a Chapter 13 Reorganization. Quite simply, most people who are in foreclosure are not in a position to bring their mortgage current quickly. This is particularly true as the foreclosure process proceeds and the mortgage company’s costs and attorneys fees begin to escalate.
A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, also known as a Wage Earner’s Reorganization can allow you to bring your mortgage current over a period of up to five years. It also can enable you to pay, restructure or discharge other debts including medical bills and credit cards.
Despite the fact that this is a way to Reorganize your debt, it is still a Bankruptcy filing. That is what gives a Chapter 13 the power to stop a foreclosure in its tracks. This may be true even if your Sheriff's Sale has already been held. You need to know, however, that the longer you wait to file the more expensive it will be and the greater the chances that you will lose your home.
A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy allows you to cure the arrearage on your mortgage (past-due payment with interest, attorneys fees and foreclosure costs) over a long period of time -- up to 5 years.
It can allow you to restructure other debt including paying anywhere from 0% to 100% of your general, unsecured debt like credit cards and medical bills. The amount that must be paid to these creditors is determined by a complex formula known commonly as the Means Test. Generally, any of the general, unsecured debt that is not paid (which can be all of it) will be discharged, just like in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.
If you would like to discuss how a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy could help you, in your specific situation, call me. You might take a look here for an idea of what to expect when you make that call.
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