Stop Repossession Today
An Overview Of US Repossession
When you face repossession of your home or your car, you may need to declare bankruptcy to save them. If creditors have a valid lien or mortgage on either your vehicle or you real estate filing bankruptcy will temporarily stop any reposession process. If you have already had your car or home repossessed (foreclosed on, in the case of your house) you may still be able to get either or both back if you act right away.
If you file a chapter 13 bankruptcy you should be able to keep your home and your car. If you file a chapter 7 bankruptcy you will keep both for awhile but you might ultimately be faced with repossession for liquidation. Depending on which U.S. state you live in, and what the state laws say about the matter, the trustee of that bankruptcy may be charged with liquidating both your car and home to pay your debts.
Declaring bankruptcy, while it can halt or at least slow down the repossesion process should not be looked at as the preferable cure for your financial problems. While it is one course of action – and if it gets to the point of repossession drastic action would be required to save your home and vehicle – it’s always best to try to salvage the situation through debt consolidation, loans or negotiation with your creditors. Bankruptcy will give you somewhat of a fresh financial start but it can have consequences almost as grave as repossession.
The fact that you had a bankruptcy will be on your credit record for ten years, and that is a matter of public record, unlike your other credit history. If you should run into similar financial crises and subsequently repossession possibilities you won’t be able to again declare bankruptcy for another eight year.
There are two types of bankruptcy, as we mentioned before, that will help you keep your home safe from foreclosure and your vehicle from repossession. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy is a short term band aid whose help depends on your home’s equity and that state’s laws on homesteading and personal bankruptcy. If you file for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, however, not only will it stop that repossession and foreclosure but it will more than likely save you from losing your home at all. With a Chapter 13 bankruptcy you will make arrangements to pay some of your debt and generally all of your debt on any secured loans.
Chapter 13 is sometimes called a wage earner bankruptcy because it lets debtors who have their own consistent income create a financial plan to repay at least a portion of their debts. With a typical Chapter 13 the debtor ask the creditors to accept installment payment for three to pay years. During this time frame these creditors are legally restricted from continuing collection efforts or starting any new ones.
The debtor’s level of income and the type of bankruptcy determine the time allowed for repayment. The primary benefit to choosing a Chapter 13 over a Chapter 7 is to save a home and car from repossession. This is in sharp contrast to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in which a trustee takes repossession of all or most of the debtor’s property and liquidates it to settle debts. Once the possessions are sold and the money paid to creditors, all debts are erased whether there was enough money to pay them off or not. There are some exceptions, of course. Bankruptcy will not protect a U.S. citizen from the IRS.
Stop Repossession Today help UK homeowners to avoid repossession and keep their homes.
25-Apr-2007
Stop Repossession Today
Mortgage Repossession
Mortgage repossession is a devastating thing. Having your home swept out from under you is not only a financial crisis. It can be an emotional one as well. In the UK, however, there is a piece of federal legislation that prevents mortgage repossession from actual making a person or family homeless. The law is called the Prevention of Homelessness Act, and protects residents of England and Northern Ireland.
It says that if a person or family occupies a dwelling and it’s their principal and only home but becomes subject to mortgage repossession or any adversary tenant eviction proceedings, the court can suspend that eviction or mortgage repossession order to give that person or family time to find a reasonable alternative place to live.
The law says that the application may be made by the person who is subject to mortgage reposession or tenant eviction prior to that action being taken. Where a person occupies the home as her, his or their only dwelling the court has the power to suspend the repossession or eviction enforcement for any period and under any conditions that the UK court sees fit to impose.
The criteria given the court for this mortgage repossession or tenant eviction protection is very lenient. In fact, it almost just says, “do what you think is right, judge.” The legislation stipulates that a court can decide to suspend the repossession for mortgage arrears or eviction for unpaid rent to prevent the person or persons residing there from “sleeping rough” or having to live somewhere not reasonably fit for any habitation by humans.
The definition of mortgage repossession or landlord or tenant repossession proceedings is defined as litigation begun in a court of the United Kingdom by the lender or landlord for purposes of recovering possession of property that is occupied by the debtor or tenant as her or his main or sole residence.
One portion of this homelessness prevention bill talks about variable interest rates, and gives the court the power to actually change the rate of interest that the debtor is paying on the mortgage if that is a reasonable thing to do to prevent repossession and homelessness. There are some stipulations built in, however. The rate of interest that the court alters the mortgage to cannot be less than that applied by the UK federal Department for Work and Pensions (must like Social Services and its Section H housing assistance in the U.S.) .
The Prevention of Homelessness Act also allows the court to put into effect a waiver of charges and fees in the interest of trying to ward off a mortgage repossession. These fees waived could include legal and court costs including the expenses incurred by the debtor for an indemnity clause.
The legislation further stipulates that should someone become eligible for, and acquire public assistance, the payment of the mortgage, to prevent repossesion might also be paid out of the public assistance check awarded, at the discretion of the court.
Clearly, in the UK, the government has seen fit to protect the interests of homeowners and tenants and assure that they keep their homes wherever and whenever possible.
13-Apr-2007
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THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE SECURING OTHER DEBTS AGAINST YOUR HOME.
YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR ANY OTHER DEBT SECURED ON IT.
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