Foreclosures: The foreclosure process in Georgia is one the fastest in the country. It can happen in as little as 90 to 120 days. While it is advisable to reach out to your lender first, many times, the lender has no real solutions, and you end up losing valuable time to save your home.

Usually, those in foreclosure are three more payments behind, often much more. Lenders normally do not provide an extended time for payback of missed mortgage payments.

WARNING WE HAVE LEARNED THAN MANY LENDERS ARE ESPECIALLY TARGETING HOMES WITH EQUITY FOR FORECLOSURE.

Options to prevent foreclosure:

Mortgage modification: A mortgage modification starts with a modification package with required documentation submitted to the lender. Because of the complexity of these applications and the lack of interest in lenders approving them. Some sources estimate only about 20% of loan modifications are approved. Over the years, GallerLaw has handled hundreds of loan modifications, and we know how all the strategies to help get your loan modification approved. While no firm can promise success in every case, at GallerLaw, our approval rate is 80% or more, depending on the case’s facts. If successful, a loan modification rewrites your mortgage’s terms to move any missed payments to the end of the loan.

In many cases, the loan interest rate and your monthly payment are also lowered. We usually need a minimum of 60 to 90 days to get a loan modification. It would stop a foreclosure, so in some cases, we do not have time to use the loan modification process to prevent foreclosure.

We can sometimes use it at a later time ( See Below)

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy- ” ADJUSTMENT OF DEBTS OF AN INDIVIDUAL WITH REGULAR INCOME” this form of bankruptcy is commonly called Chapter 13 since it is found in Chapter 13 of the bankruptcy code.

Chapter 13 is the most powerful tool to stop foreclosure because it does not require the lender or any creditor to agree to the following, and it creates a legal stay to stop a foreclosure. The 13 allows homeowners to repay missed mortgage payments over 60 months. It also restructures which paid into one single payment to a Chapter 13 trustee ( See blog about Chapter 13 for more details)

Combination Loan Modcation and Chapter 13 – Over the last ten years, GallerLaw has pioneered the use of Loan Modifications and Chapter 13 together. In some cases, our clients came to us within weeks or days of foreclosure, which did not allow enough time to pursue a modification.

However, in some cases, once the bankruptcy stops the foreclosure, we can then successfully apply for a loan modification. The loan modification would either allow the client to dismiss the Chapter 13 or at the very least significantly lower the Chapter 13 payment since the mortgage arrears would be moved to the end of the loan rather than having to be paid in sixty months. If the client has other debt other than the mortgage arrears, it can make sense for the client to stay in Chapter 13, which would resolve all debt problems at the end of Chapter 13.

The bankruptcy attorney’s blind spot- Due to the complexity of bankruptcy law, Attorneys in this field typically do not practice other areas of law. Many are skeptical of loan modifications for various reasons. Often because they have seen the poor results, their clients have had applying for modifications independently. But I can tell you I have had to sit in court many times and watch a client of another attorney lose a home when I know there is a change that debtor’s home could have been saved had the been a successful loan modification.

Evictions: Evictions are certainly much more complicated than foreclosures since there is no ownership, but our office can often negotiate with the landlord or, if necessary, file a Chapter 13 to stop an eviction. Missed rental payments can be placed in a Chapter 13 plan. However, Chapter 13 will not stop an eviction once a judge has entered an Eviction or Dispossessory order.

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