• Home
  • Bankruptcy in Brief
  • ABC’s of Bankruptcy
  • Considering Bankruptcy
  • True Stories
  • Chapter 13
  • Blog
  • About
  • TOC

Northern California Bankruptcy Lawyer

On The Bankruptcy Soapbox

The Soap Box
  • How bankruptcy works
  • Mortgage Matters
  • Consumer Rights
  • You & Your Lawyer
  • Small Business
  • Family Law

Looming California foreclosure doesn’t require bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

California has several laws that limit what a mortgage lender can do to collect its money after the foreclosure. I was reminded of the purchase money antideficiency statute yesterday when meeting with a client who took out two loans to buy a home. The home was now in foreclosure.
California Code of Civil Procedure 580(b) provides that a lender may not sue a borrower after a foreclosure sale when the loan was used to acquire a home. This Depression-era statute puts the risk of non payment solely on the lender who made the loan to buy the property. The lender’s sole remedy is to foreclose on its deed of trust.

Contrast these facts to a loan taken out by a borrower for other purposes, such as remodeling, business, or payment of other bills. Such a loan doesn’t fall within the anti deficiency provision because it wasn’t used to acquire the home. A holder of a second deed of trust on a HELOC, for example, has the right to sue the borrower should a foreclosure by the senior mortgage lender cut off its interest in the collateral. Facing those facts, perhaps bankruptcy is the right choice.

For yesterday’s client, the fact that both loans on the troubled property were taken out to buy the house protects the borrower from any future collection action by either lender. This client didn’t need bankruptcy protection. They’ll be survivors of the mortgage meltdown.

More from the Soapbox

  • Financial products sold to the unsophisticatedFinancial products sold to the unsophisticated
  • Jailed For Debt In The USA?Jailed For Debt In The USA?
  • Bankruptcy Alphabet:  Q is for QuestionsBankruptcy Alphabet: Q is for Questions
  • How Long Does Bankruptcy Take?How Long Does Bankruptcy Take?
  • When to make your moveWhen to make your move

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About Cathy Moran

I'm a veteran bankruptcy lawyer and consumer advocate in California's Silicon Valley. I write, teach, and speak in the hopes of expanding understanding of how bankruptcy can make life better in a family's future.

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

What You Left Out Of Your Bankruptcy Schedules

One of the first questions a bankruptcy trustee will ask you at the hearing in your bankruptcy case is:  did you read the schedules before you signed them? The obvious, and expected, answer is YES. And if your answer is "yes", then the trustee can conclude that you stand behind the information that the … Read more

More Posts from this Category

643 Bair Island Road
Suite 403
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 694-4700
Phone: (650) 368-4700

Categories

All content copyright © Moran Law Group. All rights reserved.