Posted on January 20, 2016 in Foreclosure

Whether you’re about to fall behind on your mortgage or have already done so, a forbearance agreement avoids foreclosure while you catch up.

Quick Definition

A forbearance agreement gives you short-term relief to deal with a temporary period of financial hardship. Your mortgage lender agrees, either in advance or after the fact, to accept a period of reduced or suspended monthly payments in return for your agreement to return to full monthly payments and catch up on the missed payments within a certain length of time. The lender agrees to not foreclose—to "forbear" from foreclosing—as long as you make the agreed regular and catch-up payments. You are given this grace period to bring the mortgage current and then return to making just the regular monthly payments.

Compared to Mortgage Modification

Forbearance agreements are usually much easier to qualify for and quicker to negotiate with the lender. After all you are not changing most of the terms of the mortgage—almost always the regular monthly payment, the interest rate, and the length of the overall mortgage don’t change. You’re just forgiven for a period of time of being in default on the payments, and are then required to catch up relatively quickly. A forbearance agreement does not make your mortgage more affordable long-term, but rather gets you back in good graces with the same mortgage you signed up for originally.

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 Posted on January 18, 2016 in Foreclosure

Mortgage modification may reduce your monthly payments but not likely reduce your balance owed. So it costs less short-term, not long-term.

Quick Definition

A mortgage modification is a permanent restructuring of one or more of the terms of the mortgage intended to make it more affordable on a monthly basis.

Compared to Forbearance Agreement

A mortgage modification is intended to deal with the permanent unaffordability of the mortgage payment, while a forbearance agreement deals with a short-term unaffordability.

With a forbearance agreement the monthly mortgage payments don’t change. The lender simply gives you a limited time to catch up on missed mortgage payments, while you must make your full regular mortgage payment as well. If you simply don’t have the cash flow to do that—even after writing off most or all of your other debts in a Chapter 7 "straight bankruptcy"—than you should look closely at mortgage modification.

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 Posted on January 15, 2016 in Foreclosure

If you are behind on your home mortgage & want to keep your home, do a mortgage modification, a forbearance agreement, or a Chapter 13 plan.

The Three Options

Here’s a summary of 3 ways to get a fresh start on your mortgage:

• A mortgage modification is a permanent restructuring of one or more of the terms of the mortgage to make it more affordable. This usually involves a reduced interest rate, the conversion of a variable interest rate to a fixed one, an extended payback period (often to 40 years), or a deferral of paying part of the principal. An actual write-off of any of the principal is very rare. A number of governmental and in-house lender programs may be available. The process can be complicated and eligibility requirements are quite rigid. The reason is that they are intended for homeowners who neither make too much nor too little—who definitely need the help but also stand a decent chance of successfully meeting the terms of the modification.

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 Posted on January 13, 2016 in Vehicle Loans

If your vehicle is worth less than you owe, Chapter 13 “cramdown” can reduce your monthly vehicle payment and the total you pay on the loan.

You could get a fresh start on your vehicle loan by:

• Paying a smaller monthly payment immediately
• Reducing the interest rate
• Not needing to catch up on payments if you’re behind
• Reducing the total amount you pay before the vehicle is yours free and clear

If you owe on your vehicle loan more than your vehicle is worth, and your loan is more than 910 days old (about 2 and a half years), you can very likely do some or all of the above through a Chapter 13 “cramdown” of the vehicle loan.

The Chapter 7 Vehicle Loan Dilemma

In the last two blog posts we described how to keep your vehicle under a Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy” case through either “reaffirming” the vehicle loan or “redeeming” it. Both can cause problems.

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 Posted on January 11, 2016 in Vehicle Loans

You may be able to keep your vehicle for less money by “redeeming” it—paying its present fair market value instead of the full debt.

If you owe much more on your vehicle than it is worth and absolutely must keep this vehicle, you may greatly benefit from a fresh start on that vehicle. It may even be worth getting a new loan, one based on what the vehicle is now worth.

If you want to keep your car or truck when filing a Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy” your main options are “reaffirmation” and “redemption.” We covered reaffirmation—entering into a formal agreement to repay the loan as if you had not filed bankruptcy—in our last blog post. Redemption is not as common but can be a useful option, especially if you owe much more on your vehicle than its present value.

What is Redemption?

Instead of “reaffirming” the vehicle loan by in effect re-promising to pay it in spite of your bankruptcy, with redemption you are getting rid of that loan by paying less—the current fair market value of the vehicle. The challenge is that current value has to be paid to your lender all in one lump sum. We’ll talk about how to get the money for this lump sum pay off shortly.

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 Posted on January 08, 2016 in Vehicle Loans

A reaffirmation agreement makes you still liable on your vehicle loan so you can keep your car or truck after writing off your other debts.

The Problem

Is it a struggle to make your car or truck payments? Have you been late on the payments and worried about your vehicle getting repossessed? Would it help your peace of mind if you could comfortably make these crucial payments?

A Solution

If you filed a Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy” case, most or all of your other debts would likely be permanently written off (“discharged”). As a result you could much better afford to make your monthly vehicle payments.

You’d enter into a “reaffirmation agreement” with your vehicle lender, through which you’d agree to exclude its loan from the discharge of your debts so that you would remain liable on it. And you’d agree to make future payments on time. In return your creditor would allow you to keep the vehicle and would report your on-time payments to the credit bureaus so that you could start rebuilding your credit right away.

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 Posted on January 06, 2016 in Tax & Income Garnishment

As of January 1, 2016 you can include any taxes you owe for the 2015 tax year in your Chapter 13 payment plan.

If you’ve been thinking about filing bankruptcy, and expect to owe income taxes for 2015, you have an extra reason to file a Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts” now that we’re in the new year. That’s because now that 2016 has begun you can include income taxes owed for the 2015 tax year in your new Chapter 13 case and payment plan. Being able to include taxes owed for 2015 gives you significant advantages.

It saves you money, gives you crucial flexibility, and stops future tax liens and other tax collections.

Saves You Money

Including what you owe in income taxes for 2015 in a Chapter 13 payment plan saves you money because almost always you don’t have to pay any additional interest and penalties on the tax owed. The savings can be huge.

That’s particularly true if you have other debts that you want or need to be paid ahead of the 2015 tax. That would delay payment of the taxes owed for 2015. As a result the savings from not paying any accruing interest and penalties would be that much greater.

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 Posted on January 04, 2016 in Tax & Income Garnishment

With Chapter 13 you may have to pay some part of the taxes that you could just discharge under Chapter 7, but it may be worth it.

Last week just before New Year’s Day we showed how to discharge (legally write off) more of your tax debts (likely for the 2012 tax year) under a Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy.” Today we show how that’s done under the Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts” form of consumer bankruptcy.

Dealing with Income Tax under Chapter 13

The most direct way bankruptcy deals with older income taxes is by quickly discharging them in a Chapter 7 case. As long as the tax meets the conditions for discharge, under Chapter 7 you would simply not legally owe the tax at all usually within about 4 months after filing the bankruptcy case.

But there are many circumstances in which a Chapter 13 case would be better for you than Chapter 7. Some of these circumstances involve income taxes and some so not.

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 Posted on January 01, 2016 in Bankruptcy

You know bankruptcy gives you an overall fresh financial start. But it can provide special fresh starts you may not know about.

The Overall Financial Fresh Start

You get a new financial life by legally writing off (“discharging”) debts so that you are out from under them and never have to pay them again. With consumer and small business debts you have two main choices about how this happens.

The Chapter 7 Fresh Start

With a Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy” the discharge of debts happens very fast. The moment your case is filed the creditors can’t take any more action to collect their debts against you, your money, or your property. Then usually about 100 days later the bankruptcy court enters an order discharging your debts. You are debt-free, other than possibly debts you want to keep such as a vehicle loan, and certain debts you can’t discharge like recent income taxes or back child support.

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 Posted on December 23, 2015 in Chapter 13

We show how filing bankruptcy before the end of December could result in a much shorter Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts.”

Two weeks ago we showed how filing bankruptcy by December 31 could enable certain people to file a Chapter 7 case instead of being forced into a Chapter 13 one. They could have their debts discharged (legally written off) within 3 or 4 months under Chapter 7. Otherwise under Chapter 13 they would be required to go through a 3-to-5-year payment plan. And they would only get a discharge of their remaining debts if they’d successfully make it to the end of that payment plan.

If You Need a Chapter 13 Case

But getting to file a Chapter 7 case wouldn’t be any motivation to file your bankruptcy this month if you already knew that you needed a Chapter 13 case anyway. Although Chapter 13 takes so much longer, and is riskier, it can accomplish many things that Chapter 7 simply can’t. Chapter 13 can give you incredible help if you are behind on your mortgage and want to keep your home. It can buy you time and protection and save you a lot of money if you owe tons of income taxes and especially if they span more than one tax year. Chapter 13 can enable you to catch up on child or spousal support better than anything. These are just some of the many ways that Chapter 13 is a great tool for dealing with your creditors.

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