Stop Foreclosure with the Help of a St. Petersburg Bankruptcy Attorney
A resident of Tampa Bay or surrounding areas in Pinellas County facing foreclosure can stop the foreclosure by filing for bankruptcy especially when all other options have been exhausted. An experienced St. Petersburg bankruptcy attorney can assist Pinellas County residents stop foreclosure by filing for bankruptcy. There are many lawyers in St. Petersburg but only attorneys who specialize in bankruptcy can assist a homeowner stop foreclosure by filing for bankruptcy. A debt discharged in bankruptcy cannot be enforced against the filer.
Filing
If all options to stop foreclosure have been exhausted, you should contact an experienced St. Petersburg bankruptcy attorney. Once the attorney knows the facts of your case, he or she will review your case and then advise you on whether or not you should file for bankruptcy protection. He or she will advise you on the right bankruptcy chapter. There are many bankruptcy chapters but most individual debtors file under chapter 7 or chapter 13. The advantage of a chapter 13 plan is that it allows you to retain your assets as long as you make the payments under your repayment plan. If you file under chapter 7, a bankruptcy trustee will take over your non-exempt assets and liquidate them to repay your debts. You can seek exemption for certain amount of equity in your home but if you are actually looking at bankruptcy as an option to retain your home, then chapter 13 is a better option for you.
In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy the debtor submits a repayment plan to the bankruptcy court. Homeowners who want to retain their homes can include the mortgage in their repayment plan. The repayment plan must be approved by the court. The debtor must make the payments to the bankruptcy trustee who will then distribute the payments to the creditors. Once the debtor completes making all the payments under the repayment plan, the debts will be discharged and can no longer be enforced against the debtor.
An experienced St. Petersburg bankruptcy attorney will draft the bankruptcy petition for you. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition must be accompanied by:
• Schedule of assets
• Schedule of income
• Schedule of debts
• Schedule of monthly living expenses such as housing, medicine, transportation, taxes, utilities, clothing, etc.
Having an experienced St. Petersburg bankruptcy attorney assist you will ensure that your Chapter 13 petition is properly drafted and correctly filed. Bankruptcy court procedure is complex and your petition will be dismissed if you do not observe the rules and procedures. Once your petition is dismissed, then your hopes of saving your home will disappear. During your meetings with the bankruptcy lawyer, the lawyer will ask you questions. Based on your answers the lawyer will prepare your Chapter 13 petition.
As soon as you file your Chapter 13 petition an automatic stay will come into operation by law. Your creditors can no longer take any steps to collect the debt. They cannot even contact you. So the mortgage lender cannot contact the homeowner or take any steps to foreclose the home. Before advising on filing a Chapter 13 petition to save your home from foreclosure, the bankruptcy attorney will check if you have a regular source of income. Chapter 13 bankruptcy is often referred to as the wage earner’s plan.
Credit Score
Although bankruptcy can save your home from foreclosure, it can have a severe impact on your credit. Bankruptcy can lower your credit score by 160 to 220 FICO points. If you had a credit score of 580 FICO points prior to filing, after you get a bankruptcy discharge, your credit score will be between 360 to 420 FICO points. A lower credit score after bankruptcy does not mean that you will not be able to get credit. In fact many debtors find it easier to get credit after bankruptcy. This is because once a person has obtained a bankruptcy discharge he no longer has any debts to repay. So all his income can be used to repay the new loan. Also lenders know that once a person has received a bankruptcy discharge, he or she cannot file for bankruptcy protection in the immediate future and hence the lender can sell the collateral to recover the loan.
In Florida, the lenders will start the foreclosure process when the homeowner defaults on the monthly payments. On the first default, the lender will send a letter to the homeowner asking him or her to correct the default. If the homeowner fails to correct the default the lender will send a notice of intent to foreclose to the homeowner. This notice will ask the homeowner to correct the default within a fixed number of days. If the homeowner still does not correct the default, the lender will take possession of the home and sell it. The thought of loosing your home to foreclosure can be frightening. An experienced St. Petersburg bankruptcy attorney will help you stop the foreclosure if you are located in the Tampa area.
The Coleman Law Group
The Coleman Law Group provides caring and aggressive representation to Florida residents, with a focus on bankruptcy and debt relief. Phone us today at 727-214-0400, or use our convenient contact us form to ask any question or request a consultation. We will call you back.