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People don't realize that there is a difference between filing a petition for bankruptcy, and the actual discharging of debts. You file a petition for bankruptcy very easily just by filling out a paper and filing it at the courthouse. Okay, so if you file the petition, you can then notify your creditors by telephoning them. You tell them that you've filed for bankruptcy. Now the phone becomes quiet. They don't call you to collect. They won't talk to you usually. Because legally they can't. But you have to realize that you aren't off the hook. Now, any creditor like your mortgage company or your car loan company can go to court and file a "request for relief of automatic stay". The court routinely grants these. In about two months, your foreclosure process will continue. Except now you have a bankruptcy filing on your credit report. Unless you go through with the bankruptcy, it has only delayed your foreclosure by a few months. Keep all this in mind when you consult a bankruptcy lawyer. I suggest everyone consults a bankruptcy lawyer because they make you feel better about your options. Just remember that filing for bankruptcy only delays your foreclosure process for a few months. It doesn't mean you can stay in the house. Did you buy your home sometime since 2005? I am continually amazed how many people who bought recently have loans that are resetting to a higher monthly payment. Some of these loans also have a prepayment penalty. So even if you were to get another loan to pay off the first loan, you'd pay thousands in the form of penalties. Many people say they haven't read the fine print and didn't know what they were signing. That may be. The lenders in many cases got people into loans that they never could pay on. And many of us are only one pay check away from financial disaster. The answer is to take a deep breath and do some learning. If you have the knowledge you can handle your situation much better... You could get the lender to re-negotiate the loan You could do a workout agreement with the lender You could use bankruptcy intelligently (rather than the way most people do i) You may live in your home for many months and rather than pay the lender, you could build a nestegg ... this is sometimes a smart thing for people to do. The point is that these are some of your options. You may want to sell your home but you owe more than it is worth. You may have very poor credit, and yet you need to find a place that you can buy or rent as you must move from your existing home. You need knowledge now. Someone to give you the facts so you can make the right decisions. Surprisingly, there is a lot in your favor. But why would the lender tell you that? They want you to keep running scared. To shake the fear get a rent to own home.
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Residential
