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Bankruptcy Alphabet: H is for House

By Cathy Moran

In my bankruptcy alphabet, H is for house. Can I keep my house if I file bankruptcy, anxious homeowners ask. In most cases, my answer is “yes”. Should you keep the house is another question. Houses are vulnerable in bankruptcy only if there is If the trustee can’t sell the property for enough money to […]

Filed Under: ABC's of bankruptcy, 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

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 from before your bankruptcy that you didn’t know about. And the law says that liens survive a bankruptcy case, […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages

You Keep Underwater Property in Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

underwater real estate

Good news or bad news, the bankruptcy trustee doesn’t want your underwater property. Trustees only want the good stuff, the assets that generate cash to pay creditors. That doesn’t include real estate where the debt is on par with the property’s fair market value. Will we have to sell? My clients this week own a […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages

Vince Lombardi Is To Blame

By Cathy Moran

win-lose

Ever feel like you’re battling your mortgage lender for your life?  Or the life of your home? The unfairness and irrationality of mortgage servicing makes it easy to see the fight as one for your self worth.  Who is comfortable being a victim of incompetent and indifferent institutions toying with your life? I’m equally indignant. […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2016, home loan

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

By Cathy Moran

Selling your home?   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 you when your sale closes. For all you know, they’ve stuffed your loan full of fees, not authorized by law or agreement, that pad their bottom […]

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

Make Sure Your Mortgage Is Current At Bankruptcy’s End

By Cathy Moran

mortgage maze

What do you really owe on your home mortgage when you get to the end of your Chapter 13 case? For years, homeowners couldn’t tell where they were or how to get answers. But with the recent changes to bankruptcy rules, you don’t have to wonder where you stand with your mortgage lender. Starting December […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2016, chapter 13 mortgage

No House, No Discharge When Chapter 13 Goes Off Script

By Cathy Moran

Chapter 13 alarm

Sound the alarm. Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases are getting dismissed right and left when debtors fail to make mortgage payments. 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. If your plan says […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2017

The Thousands That Sat In Mortgage Suspense Account

By Cathy Moran

suspense balance

Sharp eyes on the part of the debtor spotted the unapplied suspense balance, and diligence on the part of his attorney, saved one homeowner $27,000. Mortgage payments during Chapter 13 During his Chapter 13 case, the borrower continued to make monthly payments on his mortgage. But the loan servicer for Bank of America dumped payments […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2022, mortgage servicing, Reg. Z, suspense balance

Do You Need To Reaffirm Your Home Loan After Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

refinance after bankruptcy

Banks, most especially Wells Fargo, seem to relish denying refinance applications for debtors who didn’t reaffirm home mortgage in bankruptcy. You didn’t reaffirm your existing home loan, so we can’t refinance that debt, they chortle. Sometimes, the dig is even more painful (to me at least):  your attorney didn’t do this right so you are […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2018, California, reaffirm

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Bankruptcy Basics

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. We dig deeper into how to consider bankruptcy and navigate a bankruptcy case.

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

How Bankruptcy Works

Cheat Sheet For Passing Bankruptcy Means Test

The bankruptcy means test has a fatal weakness in its attempt to keep people out of bankruptcy. Like so much recently, it's health care. It's health care, in the future, to be paid before your creditors get any money in your bankruptcy. It works because, in a logic that only Congress could employ, the means … Read more

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