Churchville, PA Mortgage Foreclosure Defense Lawyer

When facing mortgage foreclosure in Churchville, debtors can take certain steps to ensure they will be able to keep their homes.

Mortgage foreclosures can happen for many reasons, such as loss of income, other debt, divorce, death, or even predatory lending practices. Regardless, any situation might lead to an inability to pay one’s mortgage, causing them to risk losing their home in Churchville. Homeowners can defend a foreclosure by going to court or stop the process by entering into bankruptcy. If you choose bankruptcy, an automatic stay will stop any sheriff’s sale from taking place. You can also eliminate dischargeable debts that might have been holding you back, allowing you to focus solely on your secured debts, like mortgage payments.

Call Young, Marr, Mallis & Associates at (215) 701-6519 to schedule a confidential and free discussion of your case with our Churchville, PA mortgage foreclosure defense lawyers.

Causes of Mortgage Foreclosure in Churchville, PA

Mortgage foreclosures happen when homeowners default on their loans because they have failed to meet payments it in Churchville. This can result in a debtor losing their house.

People might not be able to pay their mortgages for several reasons. Job loss can result in a lack of income, making paying your mortgage difficult. Even if a homeowner gets another job, it might be at a lower income, meaning they can no longer support the cost of their monthly mortgage payments. Divorce or the death of a spouse can also lead to a change in income, resulting in mortgage foreclosure.

If a homeowner has other debts, like credit card or medical debt, they might attempt to focus on repaying those debts for some time, causing them to be unable to make mortgage payments. Rarely does a mortgage foreclosure happen because a homeowner simply decides not to pay their mortgage.

Mortgage foreclosures might also ultimately come down to predatory lending practices. Suppose a lender gave you a loan that was inappropriate based on your income and assets at the time. In that case, our mortgage foreclosure defense lawyers will aim to find proof of the lender’s predatory practices and present that proof as a reason why your home should not be foreclosed upon in Churchville. There are other ways that a lender could have acted inappropriately or in violation of state or federal lending laws, eventually leading to a mortgage foreclosure.

Steps in Mortgage Foreclosure in Churchville, PA

While mortgage foreclosure does not happen overnight, the process can begin after one missed payment in Churchville.

If you have defaulted on your loan and your lender intends to foreclose upon your property, you may receive a notice of intent to foreclose. After this notice is sent, debtors will have about a month to resolve the issue before a lender goes to court. Because all foreclosures are judicial foreclosures in Pennsylvania, meaning they happen in court, homeowners may also receive a summons complaint from a lender. In response to the summons, our attorneys will begin the process of determining whether or not you should go to court to defend the foreclosure or file for bankruptcy to ensure you will retain your property.

It is necessary to respond to the summons initiated by a lender as failure to do so will likely result in a default judgment, meaning the judge will approve the mortgage foreclosure, and your home will be sold, most likely during a sheriff’s sale. If your home is approved for foreclosure, you should receive a 30-day notice in Churchville.

Pausing Mortgage Foreclosure in Churchville, PA with an Automatic Stay

An automatic stay will stop mortgage foreclosure in Churchville. You will have to file a bankruptcy petition to benefit from an automatic stay.

If you are at risk of losing your home, entering bankruptcy can offer relief. When you file, an automatic stay will take effect. This puts a pause on all efforts to collect on debts from creditors or lenders, including mortgage foreclosure proceedings. Even if your home was approved for a sheriff’s sale, the sheriff’s sale will not occur if you declare bankruptcy and get an automatic stay.

Most debtors are eligible for an automatic stay when they file. That said, if you have declared bankruptcy many times in the recent past, your automatic stay might be non-existent or might only last for a short period of time, not the duration of your bankruptcy.

Stopping Mortgage Foreclosure by Discharging Debts in Churchville, PA

Mortgage payments will not be dischargeable if you want to keep your house. However, other debts are dischargeable, which can allow homeowners to focus on repaying debts related to their property and stop a mortgage foreclosure.

In bankruptcy, certain debts are dischargeable. While dischargeable debts differ somewhat under Chapter 7 and Chapter 13, there are a few similarities, namely credit card debt and medical debt. If you file Chapter 7, dischargeable debts will be erased immediately. This means you can focus solely on repaying debts associated with your mortgage. To do so, you might have to liquidate some assets.

If you file Chapter 13 in Churchville, debts will only be discharged after you have completed your repayment plan. That said, dischargeable debts will not be included in your repayment plan, meaning if mortgage debts are your only secured debts, you can prioritize paying them off in bankruptcy.

When you are in bankruptcy, your home cannot be foreclosed upon because of the stay on other debt collection efforts. So, if you file Chapter 13, which takes between three and five years in Churchville, you will not have to worry about losing your home during that time. Furthermore, once you exit bankruptcy, you should be caught up on mortgage payments, meaning your property may no longer be at risk of foreclosure.

Protect Your Churchville, PA Home from Mortgage Foreclosure

To have our mortgage foreclosure defense lawyers assess your case for free, call Young, Marr, Mallis & Associates now at (215) 701-6519.