What will happen during a bankruptcy if I am not paying the mortgage? 29 Answers as of September 01, 2011

It depends on what kind of bankruptcy you are filing. If you filed a chapter 7, then that won't help protect you against foreclosure if you're behind on your payments and therefore you can risk losing your home in the end. A ch. 13 repayment plan would allow you to keep your home and file bankruptcy at the same time, but you need to have an income and be able to afford to make payments. If you are in a ch. 7 and behind on your mortgage payments, you should consider a loan workout to try and rectify the past due amount and possibly get you into a different loan program. I don't know all of the details of your situation or if your mortgage payment was affordable to you but you just fell behind because of a temporary income situation or if it's not affordable to you and you need something to change with respect to your payment. Either way though, it's probably worth it to have an experienced attorney review your situation and let you know if you have modification options. Otherwise, if modification isn't an option, bk 13 may be the only way to prevent losing your property in foreclosure.

If your goal is (as you said) to keep your house and you are behind on your mortgage, you will likely need to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy will need to propose a payment plan that is, at a minimum, sufficient to pay off all of your pre-petition mortgage arrears in no more than 5 years. There are a number of other factors that go in to determining your total monthly plan payment (such as your total household income, the liquidation value of any non-exempt assets, your total monthly expenses, etc.). The good news, however, is that if you are able to propose a plan that meets the requirements of the bankruptcy code, as long as you make the monthly plan payments and make your post-petition mortgage payments, then you will be able to keep your house. If you are not able to make the plan payments, or if it becomes clear that you will need to file a Chapter 7 case (because you cannot propose a confirmable Chapter 13 plan) then the automatic stay will work to delay, but not prevent the eventual foreclosure on your house.

Stay for months, then lose house unless attorney negotiates on your behalf.

Chapter 13 allows you to create a plan for repayment of the missed mortgage payments if you are able to resume ongoing regular payments once the case is filed. You have up to 60 months.

You must continue to make mortgage payments, either directly or through a Chapter 13 plan trustee; otherwise, the lender can foreclose as would be the case without the bankruptcy filing.

If you wish to keep your house and have the income to afford it, you may file a Chapter 13 petition. You must then begin making the monthly payments and pay what you are behind through your Chapter 13 Plan.

If you want to keep your house, you have to get a loan modification or find some way to catch up on the mortgage. There is no magic way to keep a house you can't afford. A chapter 13 bankruptcy is a way to pay off your arrears in three to five years if you can make your on-going payments and also make payments to the trustee for the arrears.

If you wish to keep your house and have the income to afford it, you may file a Chapter 13. You must then begin making the monthly payments and pay what you are behind through the plan.

Consider converting to Chapter 13. You will have to resume making the payments and make a "plan payment" designed to get you caught up in 60 months.

You can save the house if you file Ch. 13 and can afford to pay both the regular payment and include enough to cover the arrearages over 5 years. If you file Ch. 7, the lender will eventually foreclose.

If you do not pay the mortgage the bank will eventually foreclose and sell your house. While your bankruptcy case is open and the automstic stay is in effect the bank must first obtain permission from the bankruptcy court before foreclosing. You cannot protect your house unless you pay or modify the mortgage and the bank agrees to accept lower payments and defer unpaid back payments.

In a Chapter 13, you will start paying the mortgage and the amount that you are behind.. In a Chapter 7, you can get rid of other debt and get your discharge while focusing on getting current on the mortgage. If you can't work out something with the mortgage during a Chapter 7, then you can do a Chapter 13 after the 7 to save the house.. However, if a foreclosure has been filed and the mortgage has received a judgment, then a Chapter 13 would be your only way to save the house since you wouldn't have time to go through the Chapter 7 four month process.

In Chapter 7, the automatic stay can be lifted and allow the bank to foreclose on the home. Chapter 13 is a debt reorganization plan that can be used to save your home by paying the arrearage over the course of 3 to 5 years.

If you can know pay your mortgage, it is possible that you would qualify for a Chapter 13, which would allow you to keep your house and re-pay your back payments over time. I would see a qualified bankruptcy attorney immediately! It may also be possible that you are eligible for a mortgage modification which could put your past due payments at the end of your mortgage and just extend the length of your mortgage. Don't wait, the sooner you see someone, the sooner they can help!

File for Chapter 13 if you qualify for it.

Two things: (1) Pay your mortgage (you will NOT keep your house without doing that, and (2) discuss the arrearage with your lawyer (you will almost certainly lose your home if you foolishly do a bankruptcy pro se)

The bank can file a motion to be relieved from the stay. This means that the bank can tell the court that you are not paying your mortgage and ask the court that it be allowed to pursue recovering the property from you. I suggest that you call the bank and find out if you qualify for some type of loan modification.

If you havent been paying your mortgage, eventually your bank will move to foreclose. If they do, and if you then file for bankruptcy, you can postpone (or stay) the foreclosure of your house. But this will only be a temporary fix. If you dont start paying your mortgage again, your bank will eventually be able to foreclose despite your having filed for bankruptcy.

A chapter 7 bankruptcy will delay a foreclosure while a chapter 13 will allow you to make up the payments that you are behind and possibly avoid a foreclosure.