my house is worth about $550k.. My credit score is 559 right now, due to my excessive credit card and student loan debt.. nothing has ever been late, it’s just that i have excessive amounts of these debts.. i make about $2,600 dollars a month, and i’m wondering if i will be able to get a home loan for about $100k so that i can pay everything off.. (my house is 100% paid off).. will i have a problem getting this home equity loan?? should i even both applying or should i just wait until i pay down my credit cards more?? advice anyone??

In the present economic times many individuals are living with financial decisions causing them to hold assets, such as houses, automobiles and boats, whose values have plummeted. Individuals are living in properties whose values have dropped far below the mortgages or driving cars, which are valued at a third of the loans. Those individuals with financial difficulties are looking for assistance through the bankruptcy courts in an attempt to get out from underneath all of the debts and liens acquired, which now vastly exceed their current assets.

There are two types of liens, which can be attached to an individual’s property or assets. The first is a voluntary lien, which is basically a situation where you have agreed to use the asset as collateral for a debt, i.e. mortgages and auto loans. A non-voluntary lien is one that a creditor imposes on you and that gives them the right to force you to sell the asset so that they can be paid, for example: judgments against you or tax liens. These liens are either secured or unsecured as to the asset they are attached to.

The most common issue for an individual nowadays is the situation where a homeowner who has a first and second mortgage on a primary residence is facing bankruptcy and wondering if they have the ability to save the family home. As real estate markets fall and the fair market values of the homes fall, homeowners are left with mortgages that far exceed the current fair market value of their homes. There is a process which could be of help to many in this situation and it is called “lien stripping”.

“Lien stripping” refers to the process of reducing a secured claim to the value of the underlying collateral. It uses the combined effect of 11 U.S.C.A. ? 506(a) and 11 U.S.C.A. ? 506(d) to bifurcate the lien into secured and unsecured. The secured lien is allowed in the amount up to the fair market value of the property at the time of the stripping. The balance of the lien, which exceeds the fair market value of the property, is now deemed unsecured.

Liens can be stripped off of the debtor’s assets in Chapter 11 or Chapter 13 when there is not enough equity in the assets. Section 506(a) and 506(d) of the Bankruptcy Code acknowledges that a lien is only a secured claim to the extent there is value in the asset to which it attaches. To the extent that the claim exceeds the value of the collateral, that portion of the lien is now unsecured. The most common application of lien stripping is the reduction of car loan liens to the present value of the vehicle however it is currently used more often with home mortgages in bankruptcy situations. Lien stripping with car loans has been limited to vehicles purchased over 910 days.

The Bankruptcy Code does permit a bankruptcy plan to “modify the rights of holders of secured claims, other than a claim secured only by a security interest in real property that is the debtor’s principal residence”. Section 1322 (b)(2). This section provides protection to the holder of a claim secured only by a lien on the debtor’s principal residence by prohibiting any modification of the terms, however the issue arose as to if this section precluded “lien stripping” of undersecured residential mortgages in the face of Bankruptcy Code section 506 which appears to permit bifurcation of undersecured mortgages and voiding of unsecured portions of the mortgage lien. At least two bankruptcy court judges sitting in Massachusetts have permitted such bifurcations.

In any event, there is an exception as to the lien on a principal residence lien and that is if there is a second or third lien on the same property. In this instance those liens, lien stripping is available to render them totally unsecured if the first mortgage balance equals or exceeds the value of the personal residence. The exception is only if there are two distinct mortgages on the property, not a refinancing situation. It should also be noted that the limitation of lien stripping of first mortgages only apply to personal residences, it will be allowed for a mortgage on a building used for business or renting.

As always, all situations relative to a strategy for bankruptcy and lien stripping should be discussed in detail with a bankruptcy attorney to understand all your avenues open to you.

The bank of America list of foreclosures is a record of all the foreclosures that have been credited to the Bank of America and its constituents. The process occurs when individuals in need of financing apply for residential mortgage or other similar loans that they fail to comply based on the agreements made prior with the entire transaction. As a result, the bank of America or other affiliated creditor assumes its rights over the property based on the agreement, usually done through repossession of real property or immovable property such as houses, lots, etc. as agreed upon in the bank of America list of foreclosures as due compensation for the financial transaction that was unfulfilled.

When the bank of America conducts foreclosures, they are usually aware of the specific reason why an individual homeowner was not able to fulfill his or her end of the bargain as agreed upon in the mortgage contract. This can range to various reasons. For example, the individual may have lost his or her job, which resulted to the failure in paying for debts, including the mortgage itself. In line with this, the homeowner in question may have also way too many debts with creditors and financing companies that payment of these loans have become impossible for the situation of the individual whose property was foreclosed. Regardless of which, the bank of America takes note of this and includes this in the information that comes along with the bank of America list of foreclosures.

Such kind of information is usually kept in record for the benefit of the institution in concern, which, in this case, is the bank of America. This, however, does not necessarily merit strict rules against sharing this information to any concerned member of the public when it is deemed necessary, so long as the use of the information is in line with the institution’s purpose of keeping such information in their archives. Otherwise, like most private or established institutions, information related to their activities such as those found in the bank of America list of foreclosures are kept confidential and for the eyes of concerned parties only. This is to ensure security of information for all constituents concerned establishing borders of privacy of information.

Should there be a need to access the bank of America list of foreclosures; any concerned party can just present inquiries and requests for the information to the bank of America or any of its constituents. The request would then be evaluated and approved or disapproved as seen fit by the authorized establishment.

With this mortgage melt down, owners are caught with mortgages that are not decreasing as the cycle of reduction should run. There loan started with very low interest. House payment were very affordable. These lower interest rate allow owners to purchase homes that were above there price range. When the new rate started to increase their monthly payment got harder to make the payments. These loan also made it harder for owner to qualify for refinancing loans. Because the home owner find themselves with a loan that they owe more on the homes than it will appraise for in this market.

Making refinancing very difficult with the new lending parameters.

Foreclosure causes extreme hardship for homeowners. Home owners finding themselves in this situation go through many mood swings, try to ignore the notice of default, dont believe that this is happening. unavoidable circumstances causes the homeowner to start defaulting on their scheduled mortgage payments as well as other debts. Some common examples of a hardship are, unemployment, job lay off, cut backs, medical expenses, sickness, accident, divorce, death in family, military call up, etc.

You can do some damage control by initiating a course of action to work through the foreclosure process.

Homeowners who fall behind on their mortgages want to work out a solution with their original mortgage lender. If lender is willing to work with you, you can explore options available to reinstated loan. Before moving on to any other options. Lenders require people in foreclosure to fill out financial information, submit copies of income, tax, bank statement, other financial documents, and explain why they fell behind on their loan. This hardship package is designed to pull everything together.

Its important to put in the effort to get your hardship package as detail as possible. Hardship package are not always read by the loan workout specialist. Send the foreclosure hardship package via certified mail with a return receipt requested. The return receipt must be signed by someone at the lending institution and the signature card will be returned to you in the mail. This will ensure you have proof you sent the package. Gives you direct contact with the litigator working the file. Time is very important delay with the file lying in the pile of folder that are assigned to him slow the decision to work with you. Having the litigator contact information aid you with ways to get your questions answered to stay ahead of dates that actions by the bank will take during foreclosure process.

List the house with a real estate agency, put the house on the market for sale. The bank will want to see a copy of the listing agreement showing that you are doing what you can to sell the home. Increasing there interest in working with you to accept the short sale proposal. Real Estate agencies do property evaluation to get the sales value of houses that they are listing. This agreement with the bank will increase the chance of getting a buyer. The banker will have more information to base the decision on.

They’ll order a Broker Price Opinion to see what they will evaluate what the home will sell for. Have your agent when the bank informed him about the BPO To give them pictures of the home with repair estimated cost to show his price evaluation.

Short Sale work out agreement with lenders are not easy. Working through the foreclosure to keep it from going to sale can be accomplished. Working with the loan specialist getting him documents that are needed help you work through the process. Finding out what your option are takes times. You have options you do not want to get and agreement that is not right and then want to try and go back in and want to make a different deal.

The process are different for each state its important that you address the matter early on in the foreclosure procedure.