What Mortgage Companies Won't Tell You:
- They are not interested in working out your mortgage arrears with you. Mortgage companies through their "Loss Mitigation Departments" will have you fill out all kinds of financial statements and require you to provide extensive financial documentations, all under the guise of a loan workout. At the end of the process, which will take months, the best deal they will make is for you to come up with a substantial up front lump sum payment and the balance of arrears paid over a short time in addition to your regular payment.
- The mortgage company will not put the foreclosure proceeding on hold while you are dealing with the Loss Mitigation Department. In fact, most times the mortgage company won't offer you any kind of deal until they have a foreclosure judgment.
- Once a foreclosure proceeding is instituted, you now owe not only your back mortgage payments, but also attorney' fees, court costs, and potentially Sheriff's commissions. Depending on how far along the foreclosure proceeding is and how much is owed on your mortgage, these fees and costs could be as much as $7,000 - $8,000.00. These fees and costs must be paid prior to your being able to reinstate the mortgage.
- By filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition early in the foreclosure process you can save on many of the fees and costs that a mortgage company will charge. Your prospect of successfully completing your Chapter 13 case is greatly increased because the arrears that you will need to pay back will be much lower.
- Once a foreclosure proceeding is instituted against you, the filing of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy can actually help raise your credit scores. The Chapter 13 stays the foreclosure proceeding and you will once again begin making mortgage payments, which your mortgage company is required by law to accept. We can provide you with a projection of your credit score after you have filed bankruptcy.
2 Ways to Beat Credit Card Companies at Their Own Game:
- Take out new cards with low or 0% introductory interest rates and transfer balances from the high interest card to the new card. Keep track of when the introductory rate will expire and then transfer the balance to a new introductory rate card. This way, the monthly payment you make will actually pay down the principal balance and not just pay the interest. **Make sure to cancel the old credit cards once the balance is transferred, as open credit cards, even without balances, negatively impact credit scores**
- File a Chapter 13 petition and pay back some portion of your credit card debt over a three to five year period at 0% interest, and receive a discharge of the unpaid balances
