Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at
4:24 pm
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is a legal process that differs from traditional debt consolidation in many important ways. If you are trying to decide between these two processes, this article will help you make your decision.
While a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is actually a type of debt consolidation, it differs from traditional debt consolidation in certain important legal aspects. The most glaring and important difference is the power it wields. Backing up Chapter 13 bankruptcy is the Federal Bankruptcy Code, which can be a huge advantage when you are needing relief from debt.
Chapter 13 Protects You Immediately
An automatic stay will lock into place as soon as you file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. It’s in the form of a Bankruptcy Court injunction which effectively stops most recovery efforts that have been launched against you. Garnishments, repossessions, foreclosures, creditor harassment and license suspensions will cease. Your creditors will be forced to stop all such actions because this injunction has the legal chops to back it up. In reality it’s a court order that mere debt consolidation services cannot provide.
Chapter 13 Covers Most Debt
In Chapter 13 bankruptcy, such specific debts as tax debt, child support arrears, car payments, and mortagage arrears can be rolled into one monthly payment. This is good news because the majority of traditional debt consolidation services allow only specific debts in the settlement plan. Wouldn’t you rather have protection from every one of your creditors?
Chapter 13 Severely Reduces The Total Debt
With the power of a Federal judge ordering your creditors to stick to the repayment plan, you may be allowed to pay as little a 10% of any unsecured debts. Of course there are certain qualifications you must meet. If you can meet these qualifications the other 90% will be eliminated. You’ll be able to pay off your debts much more quickly because of the severe reduction in principal owed. This is something that traditional debt consolidation plans cannot do. They can only ask the creditor to lower the interest rates and reduce the balances owing.
Chapter 13 Bankruptcies Don’t Drag On
You’ll only have to wait between 3 and 5 years for Chapter 13 bankruptcy to conclude, at which time all dischargeable debts are eliminated. Conversely, a more traditional consolidation could drag on indefinitely while you struggle with balances that remain high and continue to accumulate additional interest and finance charges.
Chapter 13 Takes No Late Fees or Interest
With Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the payments you make towards your unsecured debt will usually be put against the principal, thus drastically shortening the amount of time it will take you to repay that debt. In fact, debts that exist before filing bankruptcy will not accrue late fees, and in most cases will be repaid free of interest, unlike the usual debt consolidation process.
Chapter 13 Attorneys Work For You
Unlike a debt consolidator, your Chapter 13 attorney will vigorously represent only your best interests. He has a legal and ethical obligation to do so, and must comply with his obligations as regulated by state law. Many times debt consolidation companies are privately run, and may, in fact, be sponsored by the creditor themselves. With a Chapter 13 attorney on your side, you have the unique opportunity of having your rights backed up under strict legal requirements.
Chapter 13 Protects Your Property
You won’t be required to post any collateral in order to proceed with Chapter 13 bankruptcy if you cannot afford the proposed monthly payments. Many home equity loans and traditional debt consolidation companies force you to risk losing your home and your property.
Chapter 13 Takes Care of Your Important Debts First
Most of your secured loans will be paid off first at the conclusion of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan. This includes such things as mortgage and automobile payment defaults. Unsecured debt payments such as credit cards and medical bills are taken care of after secured and other important claims have been paid. You will probably incur penalty charges under a normal debt consolidation company in return for delaying payments to unsecured creditors. These companies also give preferential consideration to home finance companies and car payments, which leaves little for the remaining claims. The bigger the balance owing, the bigger the penalty charges.
Chapter 13 Requires the Creditor to File A Proof OF Claim
Under Chapter 13 bankruptcy all unfiled claims are eliminated if the creditor fails to file a proof of claim with the Bankruptcy Court. It happens fairly frequently that a creditor may be listed in the Chapter 13 bankruptcy file, but forget to do the proper paperwork, thus effectively eliminating themselves from the consolidation. If you complete the terms of your Chapter 13 repayment plan, such claims are ruled invalid, and you never have to pay them back.
By: Rick Hendershot
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Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at
4:52 pm
Buying a foreclosed home in this economy is a great way to save some money on your next home purchase.. But how exactly do you buy foreclosures? One of the benefits of purchasing a foreclosed home at this time is the tax break of $8000 you get a a result of the stimulas package.You can qualify for this tax break if you use the purchased foreclosed home as your main home.
Finding a foreclosed home to purchase can be accomplished by serveral methods, but they require a lot of effort. You can also hire a realtor to search for a foreclosure, but this is expensive and normally does not produce you with the best results. A cheaper and more efficient method for locating a foreclosed home is to purchase a database subscription of foreclosed homes These database subscriptions can be purchased for only afew dollars and its very easy to search for the exact foreclosed property you wish to find.
Buying a foreclosed home is a great method for reducing the cost required to purchase a home for your family. However, if you don’t know the tricks of the trade, you might end up paying more for a foreclosed property that’s worth less than you paid for it.
Homes become foreclosed for a variety of reasons, but the main reason is becuase the homeowner can not afford to pay the mortagage.Banks or other financial institutions only want to get rid of these properties even to the point of selling them at a lower price. Not all foreclosed homes are sold at reduced prices so don’t get your hopes up.
When you buy foreclosure properties, you can save a huge amount of money. Purchasing real estate is normally the most investment people make , but it doesn’t have to be this way. If you follow a strategiy, you will find a foreclosed home which you can easily afford
For more information visit how to buy foreclosures
By: Winfred Macdonald
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Friday, February 5th, 2010 at
7:01 pm
by: Carrie Reeder
Persistence is the key working toward getting approved for a bad credit mortgage loan. There are many factors that you, as a borrower have control over that can help you get approved faster and easier. There are guidelines that most sub-prime lenders go by that, if you know them, can help you move through the process without getting stuck, unable to get financing.
If you have a bankruptcy or foreclosure, even if they are recent, do not despair. Many sub-prime or bad credit mortgage lenders have what’s called, guidelines for bankruptcy or foreclosure seasoning. That means that they have a set amount of time that must go by from the time of a bankruptcy or foreclosure before they will lend to a borrower. Usually this time is 2-3 years, but many sub-prime lenders have no seasoning time, which means, if your credit score is above a certain point, you could get approved the day after your bankruptcy discharge. Other sub-prime lenders have bankruptcy or foreclosure seasoning of 6 months or a year. The biggest factor here will be your credit score.
Sub-prime or bad credit mortgage lenders will look closely at your credit score. In order to get 100% financing with bad credit, lenders will usually need to see you have a credit score of at least 600 or higher. There are quite a few things you can do to raise your credit score to be above this 600 mark. Here are a few suggestions:
1. Check your credit report for inaccuracies. Make sure all accounts included in bankruptcies and foreclosures are reporting accurately. If they show up as an open collection or unpaid account, charge-off or something else, this could be unnecessarily hurting your credit score. It will look like another, separate credit blemish instead of just the one. Make sure the bankruptcies and foreclosures are reporting accurately. Make sure accounts that are paid off, show up as being paid off, or accounts that are closed, show up as being closed. 2. Pay-off any small collection accounts or past due accounts that you can. Every account that you pay off will help boost your score. Once you have done this, get a letter of notification that the account is paid off and talk to your lender. Most lenders have programs where they can, for a $75 fee per item, provide proof to the credit bureaus that an account has been paid off and have your credit and credit score appropriately adjusted within a day or two. This program is sometimes called a “wrap it up” service. If you are in a hurry to get financed, this may be worth it to you. 3. Pay down open credit line balances. If you can even pay down the balances on any open lines of credit, this will boost your credit score. Your credit score is lowered when lines of credit are maxed out. You can make good use of your money by paying down credit card balances to boost your score.
Once you have used some of these techniques to boost your credit score, be persistent about contacting and applying with many different bad credit mortgage lenders. Many bad credit mortgage loan brokers claim that if they can’t do the loan, then no one can. That is simply not true. All mortgage loan brokers have connections with many different lenders and loan programs. What may be impossible with one, can be very possible with another broker. If your score is around 600 or slightly higher, you will probably have a pre-payment penalty. Pretty much all bad credit mortgage loans will come with a pre-payment penalty. Talk to your lender about the details of the pre-payment penalty. Find out how long the penalty will last and exactly how much money the penalty is. How much is the fine for pre-payment on the loan? This is an important factor to consider when comparing lenders.
To get a approved for a bad credit mortgage loan, be persistent, work on your credit score as much as you can to get it above that 600 mark and apply with or contact many lenders to compare mortgage loan programs.
Visit here to see a list of our recommended lenders for bad credit mortgage lenders: www.abcloanguide.com/lessthanperfectcredit.shtml To find out more about loans go to the best loan site on the web at http://www.loaninfocentral.blogspot.com/
By: keevisr
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