Indianapolis Lawyer

In order to govern the mortgage lending process, various home mortgage laws and regulations have come into effect. These mortgage laws have been put into force in order to protect the consumers and their financial information. All the home mortgage laws are actually federal laws and are accepted in all the states. There are certain states which have their own laws regarding mortgage lending which protect the borrowers. These laws help borrowers to avoid foreclosure or bankruptcy filing.

Home mortgage laws that can help you avoid bankruptcy

Read on to know the major home mortgage laws which have been drafted and put into effect to help the consumers:

1. Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act: Popularly known as RESPA, this law requires certain disclosures to the borrowers and prohibits the lenders to go for practices which may increase the closing costs. As per this law, the lender has to offer a Good Faith Estimate (GFE). If the borrower knows what type of closing costs he needs to pay, it will help him decide whether or not he will be able to afford the loan. If he/she cannot afford the closing costs, the loan can be cancelled so that later on the borrower does not have to face the embarrassing situation of filing bankruptcy. Apart from this, RESPA also prohibits the lenders from any kind of kickbacks, fee-splitting, etc. The lender will also have to provide the borrower with a HUD-1 Settlement Statement and an initial escrow statement.

2. Fair Credit Reporting Act: Also known as FCRA, this law was adopted in 1978 in order to promote accuracy in credit reporting. Another aim of this law is to look after the privacy of the financial information given by the consumer to the home mortgage lenders and other creditors. Due to errors in credit report, there have been instances where people had to file bankruptcy.

3. Homeowner’s Protection Act: This act is also known as the PMI Act and was adopted in 1998. It establishes rights for homeowners to cancel the Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). It also specifies the rules for lenders regarding PMI cancellation. The act applies to mortgages obtained on or after July 29, 1999. Normally, the lenders ask the borrowers to go for PMI when they are unable to offer 20% down payment. At times, paying this PMI along with the mortgage payments and other debts becomes quite problematic for the borrowers and they have to file bankruptcy to get rid of this situation. Cancellation of PMI can be of great help to borrowers in order to lower their payments.

4. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA): Many a times, home mortgage borrowers have to face harassing phone calls regarding their loan payments from the lenders. Borrowers normally get irritated with such calls and other abusive practices of the lender and file bankruptcy to get rid of it. FDCPA was adopted in 1977 and prohibits certain methods of debt collection. Apart from this, it also prohibits the lender from disclosing debt information to third parties.

Apart from the above mentioned acts and laws, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act adopted in 1999, also protects the financial information of the home mortgage borrowers. It emphasizes on privacy requirements through its Financial Privacy Rule, Safeguards Rule and Pretexting thereby helping the borrowers to avoid bankruptcy in the long run.

Bankruptcy is a legal process which involves an individual who is unable to pay off his/her outstanding debts. Generally, bankruptcy petitions are filed by the debtors. In this process, all the assets of the debtors are assessed and used to repay a part of the outstanding debts. After the completion of this legal process, the debtors are relieved of all their debt obligations. In other words, this is a process which provides you the debtors the chance to start afresh while it also gives the creditors chance to get back at least a part of their money, depending upon the available assets of the debtors. So bankruptcy provides protection to the debtors and offers fair treatment to the creditors. In a nutshell, bankruptcy can indeed be very helpful to solve a financial crisis.

Bankruptcy filings in the country can be of different types. The Chapter 7 bankruptcy involves liquidation of assets whereas Chapter 13 bankruptcy involves debt repayment with lowered debt covenants or payment plans. The time that bankruptcy process takes depends upon the types of bankruptcy. The Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases generally last for few months whereas Chapter 13 bankruptcy case takes 3 to 5 years to get wrapped.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy case

This begins when a bankruptcy petition is filed with the bankruptcy court. A meeting of the creditors is organized around one month after the filing of the petition. The meet provides the bankruptcy trustee to ask bankruptcy questions to the debtors and it asks for documents from the debtors. A credit counseling class is also offered to you for your personal benefit. Nearly two months after the creditors meet, you are discharged. The bankruptcy court offers you the discharge order, which serves as the document to eliminate debts.

Chapter 13 bankruptcy case

The Chapter 7 completely discharges you from debts where as Chapter 13 offers you the chance to restructure your debts. Like the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, Chapter 13 bankruptcy case begins with the filing of the petition. This is also followed by the meet of the creditors. In the meet, the bankruptcy trustee offers you some realistic solution to restructure your debts. Here you are required to make monthly payments to the bankruptcy trustee. From 2 to 6 months after creditors meet, the trustee will issue a recommendation as to whether or not your plan should be approved by the court. Once your case is confirmed, the next step is to make monthly payment to the trustee who is entrusted to distribute funds to your creditors. The 3-year or the 5-year duration of the case is decided upon your monthly income.

Whatsoever, bankruptcy offers you the chance to eliminate the burden of debts and it also help the creditors to get back at least part of their money.

Kp: bankruptcy questions

Author’s (Samantha Taylor) bio: Samantha Taylor is an effortless writer on personal finance related topic, with profound knowledge on the mortgage industry. She is a prolific contributor in www.mortgagefit.com. Visit this website and enjoy her write ups.

Debt is a problem that everyone must face. Economic conditions, high unemployment and a fluctuating stock market have left many people facing a debt burden that often becomes too much to handle. Finding I yourself in that position is hard, but it is not the end of the world. Debt settlement is an answer to your problem and you can complete the process simply with a good debt attorney.

A debt attorney can use their knowledge of all the new credit card laws to reduce your debt load. Trained as negotiators, an attorney can deal directly with the debt holding company to come up with a solution that both parties will feel comfortable with.

Debt settlement is the process by which two parties negotiate the terms of the credit card agreement. A skilled lawyer can have fees, fines, dues and other charges waived from the account. Interest rates can be adjusted and compliance with all new regulations will be enforced. The credit card debt will be significantly reduced by these negotiations.

Once the terms are agreed upon, the consumer will be required to pay off the debt in full. While this may sound extreme, it really is not. The amount that is owed will be so much less than when first approached, the payment will be easy to cover. If a loan is required to pay the debt, the lawyer will have the information you need to apply for the right type of loan.

Using a loan to pay off credit card debt is, perhaps, one of the easiest ways to conquer your debt. Personal loans or home equity lines carry a much lower interest rate than credit card debt. Combine the low interest with the new low balance and you have successfully become debt free.

An lawyer that is trained in debt settlement will help the consumer address all the issues related to credit. They will be able to negotiate, on your behalf, with your creditors to reduce your debt. They will be able to force compliance with the new laws concerning that debt. This type of service is invaluable to anyone that wishes to control their finances.

There is hope, even when it may not seem like it is possible. When you talk to a debt lawyer about your situation you will be surprised how easy it will be to overcome the problem.

Id like to talk to you about a topic that comes up quite a bit in my social security disability practice here in Atlanta, and the issue has to do with part-time work. As you know, Social Security Disability is dealing with a lot of very, very long delays in the management and handling of cases. Its not uncommon for cases to be pending in the Social Security Administration for two or three years, sometimes even longer. Of course, when youre waiting two or three years to get to a hearing, it can be very tempting to try to go back to work. After all, you have to make ends meet, right? Well, the problem is that sometimes work activity, even if its just part-time work, can result in your claim for benefits being denied. And then you are really in trouble.

As a practical matter, its important for you to realize that part-time work makes it much more difficult to win your social security disability case. The simplest explanation would be this: the judges, when they see part-time work, are likely to believe that if you are able to do part-time work, then perhaps you would be able to do full-time work if your job responsibilities could be slightly lessened. In simple terms, a SSA Judge might think that if you tried a little bit harder, you could probably work full-time. This is just the thought process here. Or, if youre working a part-time job that requires a certain amount of physical activity, the natural thought of the Judge will be that if you took something a little bit less strenuous, you could probably do it full-time. Then the Judge will likely deny benefits.

I really think the part-time work muddies the waters, and I like to say that Social Security sees disability as a black and white thing: either youre disabled or youre not. Part-time work tends to blur that distinction and, again, judges sometimes are less inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt. Its too bad that this is how it goes, since many people rely on that part-time work to make ends meet while they are waiting for their claim to be heard.

Now, I will tell you that unsuccessful work attempts – any work attempt that lasted three months or less may actually benefit you in a social security hearing. Judges do see unsuccessful work attempts as good evidence that youre not able to work full-time. So, I don’t think there’s a problem with trying to work, but I want to warn you that once you get beyond three or four months on any given job, then it starts to look like a regular type of job, and that’s when a judge might be inclined to deny your case.

Now, a couple of strategies to keep in mind about this: the definition of disability is that you are unable to engage in substantial gainful activity because of a medically determinable condition that has lasted 12 consecutive months or is likely to last 12 consecutive months or result in death. So, Ive had some cases where somebody might go back to work, but Ill tell them, if at all possible, wait until after 12 months have elapsed before going back to work. This is because if they go back to work, lets say, in month 14, that means they were out for at least a year and we could win them benefits for that time period. However, if they went back to work after 8 months of not working, the SSA is sure to deny the case (since it is shown that their condition did not disable them for a year as is required in order to win benefits). In cases where the claimant was out for more than a year and returned to work, however, we argue for what is known as a closed period of disability and get that lump sum for the chunk of time they were out. They wouldn’t get on-going benefits, but at least it would give them 12 or so months of benefits for when they were out of work.

So, I guess the big picture here is if you’re thinking about going back to work or trying to work and youre represented, call your attorney and talk to him or her about it. The one thing that we don’t like as attorneys is finding out the day of the hearing that our client has attempted to work and has earnings of several thousand dollars during the last couple of years while the case was pending before Social Security. Judges have access to earnings records, so they can see if you’ve tried to work and they can see that you were able to work. So if they see $20,000 or $30,000 of income during that two or three years before the hearing, its going to have to be explained. And, as I said, its very difficult to explain away part-time work that generated $15,000. Its not a lot of money, but it looks like regular work and it makes it much more difficult to win your disability case.

So, the big picture here is that there’s nothing wrong with trying to work but, if you do, you certainly risk getting your benefits. If you are thinking about going to work, its wise to consult with your attorney first to get a sense from him or her as to whether or not that’s going to make it difficult for you to pursue your claim for disability benefits.

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About the Author:
Jonathan Ginsberg has been practicing Social Security Disability law in the Atlanta, Georgia area for over 20 years. His website can be found at http://www.atlantasocialsecuritydisabilityattorney.net