Total Bankruptcy

Just five days ago, Massachusetts banned mortgage foreclosure rescue schemes with an emergency measure that will last for 90 days as the foreclosure rate continues to surge throughout the state. Foreclosure rescue schemes typically involve for-profit lenders promising help to people who need to stop foreclosure and actually taking possession of homes through manipulative means. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley was described in a Reuters story as saying that these foreclosure rescue scammers make a bad situation even worse and that the emergency measure is the best way to protect homeowners in the meantime. The story added the state legislature would have to approve a permanent ban on foreclosure rescue schemes in Massachusetts.

A record 19,487 homeowners faced foreclosure in Massachusetts last year and much of this problem was attributed to subprime loans, which allow people with less-than-stellar credit histories and other red flags to own homes at low-interest rates that shoot up past their financial means in the future. In fact, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston reported that two-thirds of the state’s foreclosure filings in the third quarter of 2006 were due to subprime loans despite the fact that these loans make up only 12 percent of all mortgages in the state.

If you’re facing foreclosure in Massachusetts or another state, contact a bankruptcy lawyer as soon as possible to learn how Chapter 13 bankruptcy has helped others stop foreclosure in the past.