St. Louis Bankruptcy Lawyers Blog
The short answer is of course yes, you can in fact save your house if you file for bankruptcy. In most cases, an individual has fallen behind on their monthly mortgage payments, and the bank has moved forward with foreclosure proceedings. Once the foreclosure action is filed (by a law firm that the bank has hired), a sale date is set. The sale date is the date on which the foreclosure will take place.
Once you receive notification of the foreclosure (which you will almost assuredly receive by way of a certified mailing), you will notice that the sale date will be roughly 20 to 30 days later. At this point, you can either pay off the balance of the loan (which could be hundreds of thousands of dollars, and therefore doubtful you would have that much lying around), or file a St. Louis Chapter 13 bankruptcy. A Missouri Chapter 13 will stop the foreclosure sale, and allow you an opportunity to pay back the arrearage over a period of three to four years. At the end of the Chapter 13 plan, you will be caught up on the mortgage, and any other secured debts that you owe (like a car loan, or tax debt) will be paid off as well.
But the key is to file the Chapter 13 bankruptcy before the foreclosure sale. Filing a case after the house has been foreclosed on will not save anything (although in this type of situation, in which the house has already been foreclosed on, it might be a good idea to file a St. Louis Chapter 7 in order to get rid of any unsecured debt that resulted from a deficiency at the sale).
If you have questions or concerns related to this issue, please contact the St. Louis bankruptcy lawyers at The Bankruptcy Company. Our staff is eager to help you, and all phone and office consultations are free of charge.