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How To Make Mortgage Lender ‘Fess Up

By Cathy Moran Leave a Comment

What have they been doing with my mortgage payments? The client has been making a mortgage payment according to the HAMP formula for almost 18 months of her Chapter 13. Yet without a 1098 form, her very capable tax preparer told her she couldn’t deduct mortgage interest on her tax return. Never fear. We have a new […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages, Taxes

No House, No Discharge When Chapter 13 Goes Off Script

By Cathy Moran

Chapter 13 alarm

Sound the alarm. What began as a trickle of Chapter 13 cases ending badly has become a torrent. More and more, bankruptcy judges are strictly enforcing the direct pay term of Chapter 13 plans. UPDATE: December, 2020 COVID relief bill provides an out for debtors who aren’t current on their mortgages, effective for a year. […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2017

How To Save Your House With Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

California homestead

Saving your house ranks high on the list of reasons people file Chapter 13. The automatic stay stops foreclosures; Chapter 13 gives you time to fix the problem. Powerful stuff. But the stay and more time, alone, aren’t enough to save the day if you run afoul of other rules, written and unwritten, about homeownership […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2018

DIK Remedies For Foreclosure Breed Bankruptcy Tragedies

By Cathy Moran

Warning: virulent outbreak of do-it-yourself bankruptcies all around. Symptoms:  panic over prospect of foreclosure Supposed remedy:  file your own skeleton Chapter 13 bankruptcy Prognosis: enjoy the stay for about 2 weeks, followed by foreclosure relapse Homeowners facing foreclosure Three different would-be clients called in a 10 day period this month, facing foreclosure.  And all three […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2019, automatic stay, foreclosure

Feds Offer Deferral Option For Home Mortgage Payments

By Cathy Moran

save house

Homeowners with federally backed mortgage loans got a lifeline for payments skipped under COVID 19 home loan forbearance agreements. The feds have mandated that servicers offer deferral as one way to repay those payments that came due while the loan was in forbearance. Deferral results in the missed payments being added to the back end […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages

5 Essential Tips To Understand Your Mortgage Loan

By Cathy Moran

mortgage debt

Figuring out what your home loan balance is can be harder than a calculus exam. For most people, their mortgage is their biggest debt.  And their home is their most important asset. Yet, the people accounting for your payments are increasingly incapable of the very basics of their job.  And that makes your job, as […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2017

Your Right To Credit Reporting After Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

credit report after bankruptcy

You’ve finished your Chapter 13 and emerged from bankruptcy with your home loan current. But your credit report is a blank page as to your mortgage. The mortgage servicer isn’t reporting your payments to the credit reporting agencies [CRA’s].   Nothing. Nada.  Crickets. So, even though you’re making regular payments, you’re not visibly rebuilding your credit. […]

Filed Under: Credit, Life after bankruptcy, Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2017, credit reporting

Before You List Your Home For Sale: The Essential First Task

By Cathy Moran

Selling your home?   Before you list your home, before you interview a realtor, before you lift a paint brush, or clean a closet, you need to write a letter. A letter to the servicer of your mortgage. You want full disclosure of what charges, fees, expenses and other “stuff” they want to collect from […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2017, mortgage servicing

The Judgment Lien That Escaped Your Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

forgotten lien

What do you do when you discover old judgment liens on your home long after you filed bankruptcy? Your bankruptcy case is closed. You’re recovering nicely. Then you find there’s a judgment lien on your house that you didn’t know about. And the law says that liens survive a bankruptcy case, unless the bankruptcy court […]

Filed Under: Life after bankruptcy, Real property & mortgages

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About The Soapbox

You've arrived at the Bankruptcy Soapbox, a resource of bankruptcy information and consumer law.

Soapbox is a companion site to Bankruptcy in Brief, where I try to be largely explanatory and even handed (Note I said "try").

Here, I allow myself to tell stories and express strong opinions on how I think law should work for the consumer and small businesses when it comes to debt.

Moran Law Group
Bankruptcy specialists for individuals and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area

How Bankruptcy Works

How Chapter 13 Cuts Car Loan Down To Size

Car lenders who make new car loans with an underwater trade-in will face the music in Chapter 13. The Supreme Court declined to review a 9th Circuit decision that stripped car loans of their protected specially protected status in bankruptcy; as a result, Californians will continue to benefit from the … Read more

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