Credit Report Repair Guide

A great resource: Stop Foreclosure Houston

To Stop Foreclosure in nearly any city in the United States of America, there are basically only a few legitimate options. Some of these you’ll know, and some will be brand new to you.

Here are a few directions you can take:

• Sell your house prior to the foreclosure auction. The value of this idea will vary heavily depending on the nature and quality of your local real estate market. If you’re in a market that still has very slow resale rates, selling your home could be a challenge. Ask a local real estate agent to determine the average number of days on the market for properties in your area.
• Initiate a loan modification. A loan modification is a process through which your lender changes the payment terms of your loan to more closely match your ability to pay. While this is not a guarantee, loan modifications have become more popular in the last 12 months.
• Refinance the property. If you are not yet fully into the foreclosure process but have reason to expect you will fall behind on your payments, it may be wise to try to refinance your mortgage to a lower rate. If your property is worth less than the balance of the mortgage, you’ll want to inquire regarding a “short refinance”, which is when a lender forgives a portion of the debt against you in order for you to refinance your property and pay off the remainder of the debt you owe.

When you’re trying to stop a foreclosure, the key is fast action.

Warning: Be very wary of people who aggressively attempt to purchase your home for investment purposes. While there are many legitimate real estate investors, there has been a significant amount of fraud with “Stop Foreclosure” scams, and it is wise to be very, very careful.

Please remember: The crisis you now face will soon be over. As a foreclosure survivor myself, I’d like to encourage you to remain hopeful, and to understand that your future does not equal your past!

Thanks for reading this information about how to stop foreclosure. I hope you’ve found value here.

written by Credit Repair Guru \\ tags: Foreclosure, how to stop foreclosure, Loan Modification, short refinance, stop foreclosure

Between 1994 and 2004, 1.6 million people filed for bankruptcy in the United States and many used a Washington DC bankruptcy lawyer.  That is one in every three hundred people.  Doesn’t sound like a lot?  Well, consider that in 1984, only about 300,000 people filed for bankruptcy in the US.  That’s a 533% increase in 20 years.  As the consequence, the US House of Judiciary Committee decided the old Bankruptcy Code, that hadn’t been updated in 25 years, needed a sweeping and immediate overhaul.  They felt that bankruptcy discharge was too easily obtained and far overused, having become an easy remedy for overspending and providing no example to debtors who were likely to commit the same mistakes again. 

In 1997 alone, more than 44 billion dollars in debt was discharged by bankruptcy fillings.  That is 110 million dollars a day and 400 dollars per US household.  Creditors testified in the Judiciary Committee’s hearings that these losses were significant, detrimental to the nation’s economy and eventually passed on to responsible consumers in the form of higher interest rates for credit, higher down payments and generally higher prices for goods.  

The Judiciary Committee also felt that there were loopholes in the bankruptcy laws which petitioners and attorneys had abused.  These included excessive filings and even incentives to file bankruptcy.  In 2002, the United States Trustee Program, a role of the Justice Department that oversees the bankruptcy process, began a civil enforcement initiative whereby it identified abuses in the system.  This program uncovered an alarming number of misuses by debtors, attorneys and others including incorrectly filing documents and discharges of debt that should have been challenged.

The Committee also found that often filers of Chapter 7 bankruptcy should have been required to file Chapter 13, or an organized repayment plan, as they proved capable of repaying their debts but were not required to do so under the law at the time.  A Washington DC bankruptcy attorney can help you with the new “means test”, which now determines which type of bankruptcy you are qualified to file.

Opponents to the plan rallied to contest the proposed reforms.  They testified that bankruptcy was neither overused nor abused and that changing the law to make bankruptcy tougher to obtain would be more detrimental to the economy.  They cited that 91% of filers had suffered either job loss, divorce or overwhelming medical bills.  But, despite arguments to the contrary, President George W. Bush signed into law the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 on October 17 of that year. 

In general, the new reforms included:

•    Mandatory credit counseling
•    Passing a “means” test to determine ability to repay debts.
•    Proof of income and tax returns required
•    Mandatory financial management education
•    Greater priority for child support and alimony
•    Tougher requirements on bankruptcy lawyers for accuracy
•    Less “automatic stays” for filers 

A Washington DC bankruptcy attorney will have further details on the new reforms.

written by Credit Repair Guru \\ tags: bankruptcy attorney in Washington DC, bankruptcy lawyer in Washington DC, Washington DC Bankruptcy Attorney, Washington DC bankruptcy lawyer

According to studies, one out of 10 homeowners lost their homes in the last several months. People will not only lose their homes, jobs some of them may also go bankrupt due to the bigger slump. Luckily, there are ways to avoid bankruptcy during the recession. To avoid filing for bankruptcy and jeopardize your credit scores, here is what you can do.

avoid bankruptcy: Live Within Your Means

Many people go bankrupt because they keep on spending the money that they do not have. These people borrow from banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions without really caring how they are going to for their debts in the near future. People who spends beyond there means will find themselves in deep financial troubles in the long run. To avoid bankruptcy, you should learn to live within your means. In other words, if you earn about a hundred dollars a day, you should not spend more than that kind of money in a day. A rule of thumb, you should set aside at least 30 percent of your income as savings. Even if you are earning only small amount of money everyday, you should save a portion of your earning. You need to build a financial nest no matter how small to avoid bankruptcy during a recession.

Save On Overhead Cost

You need to save on your overhead cost to avoid bankruptcy during hard times. Gone are the times when we have the luxury to spend a lot of money on overhead cost. If you have a big home and you are having problems meeting your daily overhead cost, you should consider moving to a smaller home and save some money. There is really no point of keeping a very big house if you cannot afford to run it. You do not need all that space to yourself so there is really no point of living inside a huge house. Now, if you cannot bear the thought of selling your home and moving to a smaller one to save money, the best to do is to rent out a portion of your home. If you have a basement which you do not use at all, think about renting that space. This was you can save some cost and earn money at the same time.

Learn To Negotiate

If you want to avoid bankruptcy, you need to learn how to negotiate with your creditors. Do not allow the bills to pile up without doing something about. If you cannot pay your dues on time, call your creditors and ask for some extra time.

written by Credit Repair Guru \\ tags: avoid bankruptcy, avoid filing for bankruptcy, bankrupt, cost to avoid bankruptcy

A great resource: http://realestate.bryanellis.com/1565/stop-foreclosure-in-houston-3-legitimate-solutions/

To Stop Foreclosure in nearly any city in the United States of America, there are basically only a few legitimate options. Some of these you’ll know, and some will be brand new to you.

Here are a few directions you can take:

• Sell your house prior to the foreclosure auction. The value of this idea will vary heavily depending on the nature and quality of your local real estate market. If you’re in a market that still has very slow resale rates, selling your home could be a challenge. Ask a local real estate agent to determine the average number of days on the market for properties in your area.
• Initiate a loan modification. A loan modification is a process through which your lender changes the payment terms of your loan to more closely match your ability to pay. While this is not a guarantee, loan modifications have become more popular in the last 12 months.
• Refinance the property. If you are not yet fully into the foreclosure process but have reason to expect you will fall behind on your payments, it may be wise to try to refinance your mortgage to a lower rate. If your property is worth less than the balance of the mortgage, you’ll want to inquire regarding a “short refinance”, which is when a lender forgives a portion of the debt against you in order for you to refinance your property and pay off the remainder of the debt you owe.

When you’re trying to stop a foreclosure, the key is fast action.

Warning: Be very wary of people who aggressively attempt to purchase your home for investment purposes. While there are many legitimate real estate investors, there has been a significant amount of fraud with “Stop Foreclosure” scams, and it is wise to be very, very careful.

Please remember: The crisis you now face will soon be over. As a foreclosure survivor myself, I’d like to encourage you to remain hopeful, and to understand that your future does not equal your past!

Thanks for reading this information about how to stop foreclosure. I hope you’ve found value here.

written by Credit Repair Guru \\ tags: Foreclosure, how to stop foreclosure, Loan Modification, short refinance, stop foreclosure