Articlr

Recently a survey was taken at the Foreclosures Help resource website, in order to more deeply understand what the needs are of people in foreclosure situations. Below are the findings of this survey, in order of popularity. All people surveyed have identified themselves as U.S. residents currently in foreclosure now, or are at a minimum more than three months behind on their mortgage payments.

1) What steps can I take to keep my home from being foreclosed upon?

In the foreclosure process, the primary question all homeowners have is almost unanimous: “How can I prevent being evicted and losing my property?” Often, this intent is rooted in specifics, for example, “what are the necessary steps to keep my house from being foreclosed?”

Whatever the reason they got behind on their mortgage payments, (including medical bills, loss of job, gambling problems, divorce, etc.) the lender’s Notice of Default letter always comes as a jolting surprise to the homeowner. Perhaps they have allowed themselves to lose all hope, or live in a state of denial, but very, very few people in that situation are prepared and ready to fight to protect their homes. Declaring Bankruptcy or selling the house to an investor seems too extreme to them each and every time, and 100% of those surveyed were expecting somehow, justified or not, to be able to pay off their bills and get caught up soon. In fact, most claim that they could afford any one payment at the time of the survey, but none could afford to pay them all off at once, naturally.

2) How do I protect my credit Score?

Their credit rating is another thing that homeowners want to protect when they are in foreclosure. Everyone has been warned and scared by all the press and news on how a foreclosure will destroy credit ratings for 7 years or longer. While foreclosure can last just a few years, the impact on credit rating of the homeowner in foreclosure lasts much longer. In the meantime, the homeowners cannot get any loans for new properties or cars or even to rent even though they may have resolved their financial issues and are now making decent money.

3) What would happen if I filed bankruptcy?

Filing for Bankruptcy is something that the respondents only considered as the very last straw to keeping their property, but nearly 100% of them mentioned it. Unfortunately, all of them had many follow-up questions about bankruptcy, such as which kind of bankruptcy should they file for, is bankruptcy is worse for their credit record, and our favorite, who gets to declare the home during a bankruptcy when there is a divorce going on too. There were many such questions, all equally important.

4) Is it possible to force the lender to make a deal with me?

The final, most popular issue that often arises with foreclosure is how to ensure cooperation on the part of the bank. These institutions are very difficult to interact with while you are in foreclosure. As often as they can understand your difficult financial situation and attempt a compromise, they are just as likely to simply file foreclosure on your property without notice. What follows is eviction by the authorities. Once the notice of default appears, property owners particularly would like to know how to get a bank’s attention and negotiate a settlement.