Becoming late on mortgage payments

When Florida homeowners lose a job or experience other financial difficulties and fall behind on their mortgage, their homes could be targeted for foreclosure. However, just because a lender wants to pursue foreclosure doesn’t mean that a homeowner will lose the home. Homeowners are advised to contact their lender or otherwise take action as soon as a foreclosure notice is received.

One option is possibly avoid losing a home is to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Chapter 13 bankruptcy allows an individual to reorganize debt and make it easier to manage monthly payments. It is important to remember that as a secured debt, mortgage payments must be made if the homeowner wishes to keep the property.

It may also make it possible to repay past due debt over a period of years as opposed to having to pay it immediately. The same is true of any other secured debt such as a car payment or other debts secured by property. While many people believe that filing for bankruptcy is an attempt to get out of paying debts, this is not always true. Statistics in Texas for 2015 show that there were 30 percent more Chapter 13 filings for personal bankruptcy than any other type of personal bankruptcy available.

Those who are thinking about filing for bankruptcy may wish to talk to a lawyer. a lawyer may be able to tell a debtor more about the benefits of doing so such as getting more time to work out new payment plans on secure debt. It may also be possible to pay past due amounts over a longer period of time. When filing for bankruptcy, a debtor may be granted an automatic stay of creditor action, which may delay lawsuits.