When debts pile up and you fall behind on your bills, such as your mortgage payment, it can be extremely frightening and stressful. You may worry about keeping your home, especially if the bank has threatened or has begun the foreclosure process.
The last thing you want to have happen during the holiday season is a foreclosure on your home. Filing a Georgia bankruptcy can be the key to stopping a foreclosure action against your home and ultimately helping you keep your home in the long run.
Bankruptcy and Foreclosure
The foreclosure process moves quickly in Georgia. If you are worried about losing your home to foreclosure and want to halt the process, bankruptcy is an option. This is because when you file for bankruptcy, an automatic stay goes into effect. The automatic stay stops legal actions or debt collection proceedings against you. This means that for the duration of your bankruptcy, creditors cannot collect debts or enforce liens, garnish wages, and most importantly, cannot foreclose on your home. If you are worried about losing your home during the holidays, it is important to speak with a skilled Atlanta bankruptcy attorney right away because the automatic stay goes into effect as soon as you file for bankruptcy.
Keeping Your Home
While the automatic stay provides temporary protection to your home and prevents immediate foreclosure, bankruptcy can also be useful in helping you keep your home in the long run. How this happens depends on which type of bankruptcy you choose to file.
- Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: A chapter 7 bankruptcy is also known as liquidation bankruptcy. Generally, you will surrender your assets to the bankruptcy trustee who will sell them to pay back your creditors. However, you can choose to keep your home. A portion of the value of your home will be exempt (or protected) from liquidation. If you don’t have a large amount of equity in your home (less than what is protected by the exemption) then you can keep your home. You will, however, need to stay current on your mortgage payments to keep your home, but it is more likely you will be able to do so because a chapter 7 bankruptcy eliminates your other debts.
- Chapter 13 Bankruptcy: A chapter 13 bankruptcy is often the type of bankruptcy used to keep your home. In this type of bankruptcy, debts are consolidated, and a debt repayment plan is created. Then, to keep your home, you simply stay current on your new mortgage payments and make your monthly repayment plan payments which allows you to catch up on your missed mortgage payments over a period of 3-5 years.
Talk to a Georgia Bankruptcy Attorney
If you are worried about losing your home during the holidays, reach out to the experienced Georgia bankruptcy attorneys at The Ballard Law group. We offer a free consultation—we can go over the details of your situation and explain how bankruptcy can help you if you are facing foreclosure as well as how it can help you keep your home in the future. Don’t delay, call us today at (404) 800-9939 to schedule your consultation!