Add to that the emotional strain of losing your most valuable asset and the time and effort that has gone into building your equity in your home and you can see why it is ranked as one of the most distressing events that can happen in a person’s life.

The information here is a general overview of the terms that apply to most mortgages. You will need to check the terms of your mortgage to ensure that the same terms apply to you.

You will have 15 days after the due date for payment before you will be charged any penalties for late payment of your mortgage.
After that you will be charged a late fee and the bank will generally contact you to find out when payment will be made.
Once 30 days are up and you haven’t made payment the bank will most certainly be in contact and need information as to why you haven’t paid them. If you are still having difficulty making the payment then you should contact one of the government agencies such as the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development to get some assistance to work with your lender to resolve your payment problems.

Between 45 and 60 days the process moves to the next level where the lenders attorney will get involved and issue you with a notice of default which will detail the amount you need to pay to clear the arrears unless you have already contacted your lender to come to an arrangement for payment.

After 60 days if nothing else has been worked out you will get a notice of acceleration which means the total amount of your loan and not just the past due amount is payable in full. You will also be told the date when your property will be sold to cover the mortgage if you can’t pay it beforehand.
This is the start of the foreclosure.

You still have time to avoid the loss of your house at this stage however the longer things are left the harder it gets to retain ownership. Even after 3 months and before the house gets sold the lender will usually be happy to come to a suitable arrangement where you can clear the past due and get your payments current again.
This also depends a lot on your past history and whether you have regularly missed payments.

If you fear that you will be unable to make the necessary payments due then make sure you take action as soon as possible. Contact a bankruptcy attorney as this will halt the foreclosure and allow you some time to decide whether there are any alternatives that you can look into.

If you are considering filing bankruptcy in Austin, Texas, give us a call at (512) 343-2572

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Foreclosure is a post from: Austin Bankruptcy Lawyer

That kick will come from a creditor who you haven’t contacted to work out an arrangement for payment of an outstanding debt or possibly even the bank with a notification of a pending foreclosure on your house.

You might find yourself getting a notice of eviction simply because you didn’t contact your landlord to make a payment arrangement while you get your finances sorted.

You need to face the facts that you have a problem and then set yourself goals to resolving the problem. Problems that are left usually present themselves as bigger problems a short way down the line so today is the day that you need to start looking at your debts.

Taking action now can result in savings of interest and late payment fees. People who have money generally pay less than those who don’t because they are able to pay debt on time and don’t have to fund the additional expense of late payments in one form or another.

There is one thing that is certain and that is the fact that people who owe money might forget what they owe but those who are owed always know how much is due, so you might prefer to forget but your creditors won’t.

Also – more often than not a creditor will adopt a far more positive attitude towards you if you explain the situation you are in and let them know that you are currently working towards full and final payment of the debt as soon as possible.

Communication can do wonders for your debt reduction program.

Ignoring your debts won’t make them go away. is a post from: Austin Bankruptcy Lawyer

Foreclosures are spreading to near-epidemic proportions, expanding beyond a handful of problem states and now affecting almost one in every eight American homeowners.

The economy, driven down by the collapse of the housing bubble, is in turn driving the growth of the housing crisis.

Figures released Thursday show that nearly 12 percent of all Amercians with a mortgage – a record 5.4 million homeowners – were at least one month late or in foreclosue at the end of last year.

That’s up from 10 percent at the end of the third quarter and up from 8 percent at the end of 2007. In addition, the numbers now include many once-qualified borrowers who took out fixed-rate loans.

Data from the Mortgage Bankers Association also showed that nearly half of homeowners – a startling 48 percent – who have subprime adjustable-rate mortgages are behind on their payments or in foreclosure.

The ill-advised lending and borrowing practices that were at the center of the problem are no longer driving up the nation’s delinquency rate. Instead, foreclosures are being fueled by a spike in defaults in places where the economy is deteriorating and unemployment is climbing.

Unemployment for people with college degrees, some colelge education or technical training – those most likely to own homes and have prime fixed-rate loans – has nearly doubled in the past six months, according to the bankers association.

The number of unsold homes in Houston skyrocketed to a 17-month supply in February from an eight-month supply in January because homeowners fear they will soon be in financial straits or already are.

The House passed legislation Thursday to give bankruptcy courts the power to reduce mortgage payments. Previously, bankruptcy judges could only modify loans for cars and student loans, but not for primary residences. Now the judge can cut the interest rate and principle on a home mortgage.

The Senate is expected to take up the measure in a couple of weeks.

The only bright spot in the foreclosure report was that the damage caused by subprime adjustable-rate mortgages is waning.

If you have lost your home and are being hounded by the lender or mortgage insurance company, or are faced with losing your home, please contact our office at (512) 343-2572 or request our free bankruptcy guide.

Foreclosures climb in worsening crisis is a post from: Austin Bankruptcy Lawyer

The good news: Foreclosures of homes purchased with subprime loans may have bottomed out. The bad news: Foreclosures of homes bought with other forms of loans are increasing.

continue reading…

Here is the Spanish translation of Post summary:-

La buena noticia: Foreclosures de viviendas compradas con préstamos subprime puede haber tocado fondo. La mala noticia: Foreclosures de viviendas compradas con otras formas de préstamos están aumentando.

Here is a news article on related topic:-

Iowa lawmakers back foreclosure protections

“Mortgage foreclosures are at an all-time high,” Rep. Phyllis Thede, D-Davenport, said at a news conference. “Middle-class families are being squeezed by a …

continue reading…

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Wave of home foreclosures ripples beyond urban cores – Kansas City … is a post from: Austin Bankruptcy Lawyer

Home values in 20 of America’s biggest metropolitan areas fell even further recently – prices dropped 18.2 percent in November from the prior year, the steepest plunge on record according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

Prices in 11 of the 20 metropolitan areas surveyed fell at record rates and 14 areas reported double-digit declines.

In the Phoenix metro area, home prices fell 32.9 percent in November from a year earlier, they tumbled 31.6 percent in Las Vegas, and they dropped 30.8 percent in San Francisco.

None of the 20 cities in the index posted a gain in prices from October to November, or from November 2007 to November 2008. Denver and Dallas (the only Texas city on the index) fared the least poorly, with home prices falling 4.3 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

Consumer confidence continued to fall in January, hitting a new low of 37.7 – only 6.4 percent of 5,000 households surveyed reported that business conditions were good. Unemployment has risen to 7.2 percent, employers are trimming workweeks and laying off workers by the thousands, and retirement accounts have been devastated by the turmoil in the financial markets.

The continued erosion of housing values poses a threat to millions of Americans who overextended themselves financially to take on mortgages or home equity loans, betting that an uninterrupted rise in home prices would keep them above water.

Home Price Drops in Cities Hit Record is a post from: Austin Bankruptcy Lawyer

Travis, Hays, Williamson and Bastrop counties have a combined total of 9,008 foreclosure listings for the year. That equates to a 32.7 percent increase in foreclosures in Travis County and 30% increase in foreclosures in Williamson County when compared to December of last year. The foreclosure posting data are available for all of 2008 because the final auction is set for Dec. 2 and postings were completed two weeks ago. According to a recent article by Kirk Ladendorf in the Austin-American Statesman and Real Estate Investors, a San Antonio based company:”[t]he vast majority of foreclosures are homes that cost less than $200,000. But the December auction includes several high-end properties…” Hopefully the lower gas prices are helping some people with their mortgages and the December holiday season. But, for many, lower gas prices and even the recent gossip that the mortgage interest rate will be lowered to 4.5% isn’t enough.

If you are in foreclosure or proceedings seem imminent, there are options that will stop the foreclosure process

Consult an experienced bankruptcy and see whether a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy can protect your home. Under Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you will be allowed to combine any back house payments into the Chapter 13 payment plan. As long as you can continue to make your monthly mortgage payments and make timely payments on your Chapter 13 plan, you will get to stay in your home.

Both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates have said recently that keeping more people facing foreclosure in their homes should be a top priority. But help from the federal government may come too late to save your home if you are already facing foreclosure.

Protecting your home from foreclosure is essential to your financial future. For many Americans, their home is the largest investment that they have. Hanging on to the equity you may have in your home is central to your future financial stability.

Foreclosures in Central Texas up almost 27 percent from ’07 is a post from: Austin Bankruptcy Lawyer