On June 17, 2020, the Federal Housing Financial Agency (FHFA) extended the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage foreclosure moratorium through August 31, 2020, because of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. The original moratorium was set to expire on June 30, 2020. While this is good news for many homeowners who may be struggling with job loss or small business interruptions, it is possibly exacerbating the inevitable for those same homeowners. The simple fact is that waiting to file a bankruptcy case rarely results in NOT filing a bankruptcy case; however, delaying filing nearly always makes the post-bankruptcy recovery harder and longer.
Those Americans that have been out of work for an extended time and have their mortgage payments in a “forbearance” plan will have to begin making payments again soon. If the plan does not add the forbearance payments to the end of the loan, then once the plan ends all the payments that were missed may come due at once. For example, If you became unemployed in March and signed up for a forbearance for payments beginning in April but did not resume work until July, your payments for April – July will be due when you notify your lender that you are again employed. You will still owe the four missed payments and will likely need to repay them back over an extended period, thereby increasing your regular monthly payment. If you obtained similar forbearance programs for other debts, you would now have significantly increased your monthly expenses across the board. These increases will likely be unsustainable for most Americans.
If this scenario seems all too familiar, you are not alone. Bankruptcy may be an option that can help you save your home, eliminate credit card debt, and give you a clean break from the financial struggles that millions of people are grappling with daily. Contact LoBue Law, PLLC now for a free, no obligation case evaluation before you are on the eve of a foreclosure and potentially risk the loss of your most valuable asset, your home.