Chapter 7 & second mortgages
Joliet Illinois Bankruptcy Lawyers & Attorneys
Jesse Barrientes: Well, lets talk about that too. Because we have questions about this all the time in terms of – and again sometimes we say it’s too late. When people come in to Joliet, and hey, guess what? Guess what I just did? I couldn’t keep it afloat. You know holiday season was here, credit cards got up there. I refi’d and tapped that $15 thousand of equity I had in my house and I paid those credit cards. But unfortunately you know what? The bills are running up again and I don’t have anymore equity to tap. And I can’t refi. So is it a common mistake that you see as well?
Dave Siegel: This happens a lot. They go for a second mortgage. They go for a line of credit. They use that money to pay debt that they otherwise wouldn’t have to pay if they just would have left that equity in their house. Because, again, we can protect quite a bit of equity especially for a joint couple. $15 thousand, $30 thousand worth. And of course you’ve got the cost of sales, so really you can protect even more than 30. And if you drain it all out of a second mortage you wind up paying your creditors. The debt doesn’t go away usually. They wind up filing bankruptcy anyway. And now they’re sitting on real estate that has no equity so they’re really in – almost a zero situation. It’s sad.
Jesse Barrientes: Not to mention – hey, rolling it in. If you do a refi and not a second mortgage. You roll it in and now you’re going to be paying for those credit card purchases for the next 30 years, or 25 years, or 20 years.
Dave Siegel: That’s right.
Jesse Barrientes: Or something.
Dave Siegel: And as real estate values do not continue to appreciate like they used to in the past, it makes it more and more difficult to make that payment. Or to refinance. Or to sell. So you’re pretty much strapped with that first and second mortgage, your line of credit, equity line, for quite some time.
Back to Joliet Illinois Bankruptcy Lawyers & Attorneys
Chapter 7
What’s needed to file a Chapter 7 case?
Stay on creditors during a Chapter 7 case
Mistakes made in a Chapter 7 case
Listing creditors in a Chapter 7 case
Credit counseling classes in a Chapter 7 case
Notice to creditors in a Chapter 7 case
There is life after bankruptcy
Chapter 13
Saving your home with a Chapter 13
Stopping a sheriff sale using Chapter 13
Converting to a different chapter from Chapter 13
