When thinking of filing bankruptcy to stop foreclosure, the terms you should get used to include “Chapter 7″ and Chapter 13.

With Chapter 7, things would have been so much easier because you could liquidate or have the mortgage lowered in exchange for you forfeiting some assets. Technically, this is more or less a forgiveness of you pecuniary sins and you get to keep the home – talk about stopping foreclosure in its tracks! But if you had to file under Chapter 13 of the code, you are still going to have to pay off all the monies that you owe to the mortgage firm, except at a set lowered amount per month. Usually, Chapter 13 gives you about three to five years to make up. It is something, but wouldn’t you really have preferred Chapter 7? I know I would.

Even when the law was passed, folks didn’t really like it that much. Several leading consumer groups and bankruptcy attorneys thought it was a farce – a joke – because it really made life harder for a lot of homeowners. Naturally, the credit card and retail industries were all for it. It made it possible and easier for them to foreclose on various properties. That notwithstanding, it is still a window or opportunity for you to stop foreclosure, especially when you have tried all of the other options upstairs and failed.

There is a catch, though, if you are really considering filing for bankruptcy to stop the foreclosure proceedings before they ever set off. You are going to have to take a number of credit counseling sessions with a certified and experienced credit counselor before you may even start the filings. If you fail to complete the counseling program, your movement gets thrown out of court and you are right back where you started. It may be a bit onerous for a low income earner, but if it’s what it takes to save your home and livelihood, you have got to do what you have to do.

In however small a way, bankruptcy does help; you just need to make sure that it really is the only remaining option before you start with it.

There are a lot of other options you can and should explore before you finally settle in on bankruptcy as a means to stop foreclosure. It’s a good idea to explore as many other ways to stop the foreclosure process before you settle on this option to file bankruptcy. You should see it as a last resort because the judge is not likely to be very friendly towards people who file for bankruptcy the moment things do not want to go their way.

You can try for a reinstatement of your mortgage loan or a restructure first, or you could attempt to refinance the mortgage or sell the home to someone else before the foreclosure sale date. A short sale is definitely an option if you can find another credit institution to carry the weight on your behalf, or you can try walking away on a clean slate after giving the home back to the lender through a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

Certainly by the time you get to the foreclosure part of your thought process, you want to have tried everything else on your slate. You see, the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 was put in place because folks had started to abuse this golden opportunity and needed to be stopped. Amended in ’84 and ’86, it still birthed the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law in April 2005. Someone is certainly doing everything they can to see that it is more difficult for debtors to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code.

It’s very important to familiarize yourself with this so that you can know what needs to be done. If you can afford it, it’s also important to get a foreclosure attorney who is very skilled in handling foreclosure matters that deal with filing for bankruptcy. Yes, there are such attorneys and even though their fees can be steep, they offer high quality services. And yes, they do help people save their homes using this filing for bankruptcy option. You can avail yourself to their services right now, if you want to go ahead.

First you have to know is this – the bank or financial institution in charge of your mortgage doesn’t really like the idea of not being able to foreclose on you. But the fact is that this is really not about the bank or financial institution. This is about the fact that you are about to lose all that you have worked for over the past several years. I mean, you have been dutifully paying your mortgage each month, and things have only just gotten worse in the last four months or so. Plus, they have really got to understand about the current global economic situation. How can anyone want to hold you liable for that? Besides, no one knows about the housing expenses you have had to deal with lately, and the fact that you have just had to take a pay cut. Someone really has got to care.

Well they do care, and filing for bankruptcy is the way in which you get to voice your opinion. At your bankruptcy hearing, you are going to have to prove that things are really as you said that they were, and if the judge believes you, you are in luck. You could get an injunction of a few years while you get your act back on the road, financially; or you could be asked to keep paying what you owe, but at a different interest rate and over a set period of months.

Basically, it all rests on how aggressive and well-versed your bankruptcy lawyer is. A good lawyer can get you off without a hitch, but an incompetent attorney can leave you hanging with your pants down and a red hot herring on your plate. If you know what is good for you, you will read first about how the proceedings go, and then you will get yourself the best bankruptcy lawyer that the United States has to offer… in your area. So, yes, you do need a good lawyer to help you out using this bankruptcy loophole.

You see, you have a legal right under constitution to apply for bankruptcy when you find that you are unable to make up the payments on a loan or advance that you took. When you find that foreclosure is beginning to look inevitable, you had better cease upon the opportunity presented by the bankruptcy act and apply for bankruptcy to stop foreclosure.

People may want to think of it as some kind of impoverishment, but really, who cares? The fact remains that you no longer have the funds or means to pay what you owe on the mortgage. It is only a question of time before the foreclosure papers get served, and then you will biting your nails wondering how you could have been so slow on the uptake. So what, you are going to have to take some credit counseling classes in the process? That isn’t a lot to ask for if it stops you from being thrown out on your behind. In any case, the counseling will open you to other options that you may want to pay particular attention to. If you like them, you can go ahead with them too.

Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding in which you as a debtor get to declare your debts – either consumer or business debts – as at when due. By filing for bankruptcy, you are allowing yourself the chance to seek a discharge with lawful authorization to from continuing your personal liability on the mortgage.

Furthermore, it allows you the chance to reorganize financially by seeking an extended period in which to make more money and finally return to pay off all that you owe. True it’s only a temporary solution. But you will agree with me that it gives you the breathing space you need to get back in line – unless you win a chapter 7 bankruptcy approval, which will be a major plus because it is a forgiveness.

The very best way to stop foreclosure is really the simplest, and if you can do it, you can go right on back home and sleep in your bed: pay the money. Now don’t get off thinking I’m ranting here. Sure you will wonder how you can pay the money right now when the reason you are here in the first place was because you couldn’t pay the money. But a mortgage is a mortgage and you have to meet up with the terms. Call up a friend and ask for an advance, call in a few favors, approach some other credit company for some kind of loan, and pay the mortgage. You just need to sit back and think for a while and it will come to you. You really can pay that mortgage, and pay it on time too, if you set your heart to it.

A second option you may want to consider is calling up the mortgage bank. Hey, they lent the money to you in the first place, and they really aren’t interested in seeing you out in the street without a home. What the bank wants is their money, so if you give them reason to believe that they will still get their money, they will have no reason to foreclose. So, why don’t you call them up already and ask for an adjustment in the payment schedule? You may be surprised that they actually listen to whatever you have to say. It’s a lot better than sitting back and waiting to be served the papers.

Now if there is any way at all that you know to increase your income, now will be a good time to check out that option. You can ask for a raise at work or you can switch jobs, you can pick up a second or third detail, or you could sell something that you already have in your possession – something of value. Anything you can do to raise the needed cash to stop the foreclosure proceedings will be welcome at this time. And if that fails, you can simply offer to refinance the home.

Don’t let anybody ever tell you different; if you really wanted to put an end to a foreclosure attempt, you really are able to pull it off. All you need is some diligence on your part, and, and a little assistance, and the lines may just fall for you in pleasant places.