subject: What Can You Do To Avoid A Foreclosure? [print this page] Nothing can make your stomach churn quite like a foreclosure notice. It is a feeling that can freeze you--but don't let it freeze you for too long. After 15 years of experience in foreclosures and debt relief, the best advice I have for you is: don't wait.
Don't wait to do what?" Don't wait to explore your options. There are often three avenues you can take when you are in foreclosure. First, you can choose to try and modify your loan with your mortgage company. This is often the first move for a lot of people. Unfortunately, this economy is causing loan modifications to be harder to obtain. In fact, America's largest lender is only approving about 4% of the people who apply for the modification. What about the other 96%? Well, they get a notification that there isn't anything that can be done to help them. That notification may not come until weeks or days before a foreclosure dateand then you are left with little time to pick another option.
You can also look into debt settlement to try and free up some of your money and make your mortgage payments but, since so many have been turning to debt settlement, the amount of scams have been steadily rising. It also only offers to settle some of your debt. There are other options that can actually eliminate your debt and give you legal protection from your creditors.
Bankruptcy is a third option to think of when going through foreclosure. Bankruptcy can actually stop a foreclosure immediately. In a study conducted earlier this year, it showed that over 20% of the people who filed for bankruptcy did so to save their home. It is most definitely the safest option out of the three. Not only will it stop your foreclosure but bankruptcy will also stop harassing creditor calls, wage garnishments, and car repossessions. No wonder the number of bankruptcy filings has hit an all time high this year.
Whatever you choose to do, do it quickly. If you wait to decide what move you will make, it could leave you without enough time to let any option help you save your home.
