Saving your home in Chapter 13

Chapter 13 is an extremely effective legal mechanism for saving one’s house if it is being threatened with foreclosure. The trend these days is for home loan lenders to refuse to accept payments while “modifications” are being “reviewed”. This means arrears mount higher and higher. I have known of an extremely few home loan modifications actually coming to fruition. However, I have heard person after person recount to me how the lenders “lost” paperwork submitted for modifications multiple times, countless delays, requests for more information, and ultimately refusal to modify. This whole process can destroy the chances of a Chapter 13 to save your home.

In a Chapter 13, the entire arrears on a house have to be paid in full during the 60 months of the plan duration. The arrears can include certain fees, penalties, and other costs prior to the filing, but gets zero (0%) percent interest in the plan in the Eastern District of Kentucky.  So, if the arrears mount too high prior to filing the Chapter 13, then the plan payment can end up being so high that the plan is not feasible. On top of the plan payments, one has to resume making the ongoing regular monthly payment.

I strongly recommend that you consult a bankruptcy attorney about a Chapter 13 early in the process because modification efforts are usually unsuccessful. I do not know why lenders are taking the approach they are to home owners because it does not seem economically logical, but then we are talking about huge, mindless organizations. But, in a Chapter 13, the lenders HAVE to play by the rules.

Debtors also must play by the rules and they MUST make those monthly payment to the lender and their Chapter 13 plan payments for the whole thing to work. So, their budget must support both payments. This means taking action early.

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