We all want the American Dream of owning our own home. The pursuit of that dream and idea that one could have it all with the unbridled demand of having everything right now lead in part to the current economic crisis in America.

What happens when the bursting housing bubble hits your house? What are the tax consequences?  What are the time requirements to complete these processes?  What additional costs will be required of the homeowner?  What is best for me and my family? There are four main options that must be explored fully and examined in light of your exit strategy from the house. 

This is occurring all too often and a number of homeowners have not explored the options, issues, and consequences.  What are YOUR options and what issues can arise from seeking these options? How do they impact the future, one's financial life, tax, employment, credit and what linginering effects can be generated?  These are questions I get asked a lot.  Let us explore these options and look at some of the issues or consequences to each option. 

The options are:

 

(1) Short Sale
(2) Loan Modification (not often successful, very time consuming, labor intensive)
(3) Foreclosure (expensive if you try to fight the bank, mostly you lose, attorneys get the money you need to pay the mortgage)
       a.  Deed-in-Lieu
                     of Foreclosure 
       b.  Judicial Foreclosure
       c.  Non- Judicial
                     Foreclosure
(4) Bankruptcy (Not all mortgages are dischargeable, marks credit for lengthy time, stays on your record permanently)

 

 

The issues are:

There are seven things you need to know about Loan Modifications.  First of all they are time consuming because of volume or number being requested.  The banks are taking upwards of 1 to 2 years or more to decision in the consumers favor if they do...The process is time consuming, costly, expensive, and uncertain AT BEST.  The government retecor

At the heart of the loan modifications is the conviction that restructuring distressed mortgages will keep struggling borrowers in their homes and help insert a floor beneath plummeting property values. With $75 billion dedicated to reworking troubled loans, that's a big bet — especially considering that a top banking regulator said in December, 2008 that almost 53 percent of loans modified in the first quarter of 2008 went bad again within six months. But supporters argued that mortgage modifications need to be properly engineered to work—and many early ones were not. To that end, Congress, HUD, and the Obama administration unveiled the plan to restructure at-risk loans and help as many as four million home owners avoid foreclosure. Here are seven things you need to know about the loan modification programs.

1. Payments, not prices: The plan centers on the belief that struggling borrowers will stay in their homes—even as values decline sharply—as long as they can make their monthly payments. Although not everyone agrees with this, billionaire investor Warren Buffett endorsed the philosophy in his  letter to shareholders. "Commentary about the current housing crisis often ignores the crucial fact that most foreclosures do not occur because a house is worth less than its mortgage (so-called “upside-down” loans)," Buffett wrote. "Rather, foreclosures take place because borrowers can’t pay the monthly payment that they agreed to pay."

2. Thirty-one percent: To that end, the plan requires participating loan servicers to reduce monthly payments to no more than 38 percent of the borrower's gross monthly income. The government would then chip in to bring payments down further, to no more than 31 percent of the borrower's monthly income. In lowering the payment, the servicer would first reduce the interest rate to as low as 2 percent. If that's not enough to hit the 31 percent threshold, they would then extend the terms of the loan to up to 40 years. If that's still not enough, the servicer would forebear loan principal at no interest. The plan does not, however, require servicers to reduce mortgage principal.  Richard Green, the director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at USC said "For underwater loans, if you don't write down the balance to be less than the value of the house, people still have an incentive to default," Green says. "Writing down the principal first instead of last makes sense to me."

3. Cash incentives: To encourage participation, servicers will be paid $1,000 for each modification and will get an additional $1,000 payout each year for as many as three years, as long as the borrower continues making payments. Borrowers, meanwhile, can get up to $1,000 knocked off the principal of their loan each year for as many as five years if they make their payments on time. Neither party can receive the cash incentives until the modified loan payments have been made for at least three months.

4. Financial hardship: The current plan is an effort to help responsible homeowners ensnared in the historic housing slump and painful recession—not speculators. As such, only owner-occupied, primary residences with outstanding principal balances of up to $729,750 are eligible. Occupancy status will be verified through documents, such as the borrower's credit report. In addition, the program is designed to target homeowners who are undergoing "serious hardships"—such as a loss of income—which have put them at risk of default. To participate, borrowers will have to sign an affidavit of financial hardship and verify their income with documents. "If we would have had such stringent verification over the last four or five years, we probably wouldn't be in as bad a position as we are in," says Richard Moody, the chief economist at Mission Residential. But while Moody has no objection to such verification, obtaining documents from so many homeowners could be an onerous effort. "It's going to be a very time-consuming process," he says. Only loans originated on or before Jan. 1, 2009, are eligible, and modified payments will remain in place for five years. Now lenders are free to begin modifying loans.

5. Net present value: To determine if a particular mortgage will be modified, the servicer will perform a so-called net present value test. The test compares the expected cash flow that the loan would generate if it is modified with the expected cash flow it would generate if it isn't. If the modified loan is expected to produce more cash flow for the mortgage holder, the servicer is to restructure the loan. Howard Glaser, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development official during the Clinton administration, called this component of the plan "clever," arguing that it would work to ensure broad participation. "When you apply the formula, the loans that are modified are the ones that are in the best economic interest of the investors to modify," Glaser says. "The federal subsidy for the payment on the modification…tips the scale toward modification as a better deal for the investor."

6. Second liens: The plan also addresses the issue of second liens—such as home equity loans or home equity lines of credit—by offering incentives to extinguish them. But key details on this component of the plan remained unclear. "Distinguishing the second lien is really important," Green says. "[But] exactly how they are going to convince the second lien holder to do this is not clear to me at all."

7. Will it work? Moody argues that while the plan may reduce foreclosures for primary residences, it could lead to a spike in defaults for another group of homeowners. Although Moody supports the administration's efforts to focus the initiative on primary residences, Moody notes that "it could be the case that a lot of [real estate speculators] have been just hanging on waiting to see exactly what the details are of this [plan]," Moody says. Now that it's clear the plan leaves speculators out, "we could actually see a spike in foreclosures or at least mortgage defaults among this group."

Glaser, meanwhile, worries that lenders have been overwhelmed by inquiries from homeowners looking to participate. "Millions of borrowers have been calling their lenders to see whether or not they are eligible," he said. "And the financial services industry does not have the capacity to handle these inquiries."

Depending on if you missed payments or how the lender or servicer reported it to the credit agencies, the loan modification may be a black mark on your credit for 2 to 4 years.

The prospect of foreclosure is difficult for a homeowner, but there is another option.

A little-known alternative, once more commonly used in the real estate downturn of the early '90s, is the "short sale," which works like this: A homeowner falls behind on his or her mortgage payments, usually due to a job loss, rising debt payments, or both. Facing a situation in which the home value has fallen and cannot be sold for the amount of the mortgage owed, the homeowner works out a deal with the lender to sell the home for whatever the market will bear. If the amount of the sale is for less than the amount owed on the mortgage, the lender gets the proceeds and discharges the remaining debt. The homeowner will have to leave the house as soon as it is sold.

Alternatively, with a foreclosure, homeowners who can no longer make payments are served with a notice of foreclosure, which essentially informs them to either bring the loan current or face the home being taken over and sold at a public auction, after which the homeowner will face eviction proceedings. While this process is going on, the homeowner can live in the house rent-free for up to a year, depending on that state's foreclosure and eviction laws. But this fact alone does not mean the foreclosure is better; in fact, it may be worse.

A Short Sale

As Foreclosures Rise,
More Sellers and Lenders Consider Short-Selling

According to sources in the mortgage industry, people who agree to a short sale with the lender do far less damage to their credit rating than those who go through foreclosure.

While in both cases, short sale and foreclosure, the delinquent mortgage will negatively affect their credit rating, at least short sellers avoid having a "debt discharged due to foreclosure" on their credit reports. Mortgage and credit experts say that, after bankruptcy, having a foreclosure on your credit report is the worst result and will reduce your credit score by over 250 points. You could also have to wait up to three to seven years to qualify for a mortgage at a reasonable rate.

Short sales show up on a credit report as a "pre-foreclosure in redemption" status and can result in a credit score reduction of 100 points or less. After the sale, the mortgage may show up as "discharged." People who successfully complete a short sale may also qualify for a mortgage at a reasonable interest rate in as little as 18 months. So, if buying a home is a future goal, then a short sale is the better option for many.

Homeowners cannot simply decide that they want to unload a home with a short sale; the lender must agree to it. The key to getting a lender to go along is to demonstrate two things: that you have no other financial resources to pay the mortgage, and that the sale price the buyer is willing to pay is the fair price the market will bear. If a lender believes it can get more for the house by taking possession of it and selling it themselves, then they will not go along with a short sale.

To begin the process of a short sale, you first need to call the lender and speak directly with the person in the loan workout or short sale department. At GMAC ResCap, a large residential mortgage lender, there is a "foreclosure prevention department" with people trained to work with homeowners in exactly this situation. Their motivation is summed up by Steve Nelson at that company: "We pretty much know what our loss is going to be if we foreclose. If a short-seller results in a payoff that's better than that number, we're talking all day long with people who want to put a short sale together." Some lenders report a three- to four-times rise in the number of short sales over the past year.

Buyers who can find a short-sale can get a good deal some times if you are not rushed and you do not mind the uncertainty and time loss. The advantages of buying a property through a short sale include buying at a discounted price and buying a house where the sellers are still motivated to sell the home and may take care of it until it is sold.

Some buyers think they can get a better deal by waiting to buy a house when it goes into foreclosure, but buying a house through foreclosure is risky business and not for first-time buyers or inexperienced real estate investors. You should get advice from an experienced professional. Hire a lawyer to help you with the eviction process if the home is occupied. Sometimes, tenants who are sued for eviction can retaliate. When sellers realize they will lose their home to foreclosure, they often stop caring for it. Many states require buyers to make certain disclosures to the owners, and failure to do so on the proper forms and in the required timeframes can result in fines, lawsuits, and even cancelation of the sale and loss of your money.

It's typically advised to work with a realtor with experience in short sales, because they can help you research the market to find the properties where foreclosure notices have been filed as well as how much is owed by the lender. Typically, this can be done at the county registrar of deeds. They can also approach these homeowners for you to let them know that they are aware that the foreclosure notice has been filed and that, if the owner is interested, there is a buyer who could work with them to complete a short sale.

Even if you find a home where the owner is willing to work out a short sale, don't assume the lender will go along with it. Once the seller agrees to your offer, your agent will need to send it to the lender for approval, and you will not have a deal until the lender OKs it.

Expect a lender to negotiate a higher price; they will want to know they are getting paid the most they can get for the house. Since the lender is paying the realtor's commission, it will likely ask your agent to lower his commission, or you to pay some of it. Typically, the lender will not bear the cost of items that are typically paid for by sellers, such as inspections, and the lender will agree only to sell the property if the buyer agrees to buy it in "as is" condition. This makes it all the more important for a buyer of a property through a short sale to make an offer contingent upon approving a through home inspection.

Foreclosure is the legal and professional proceeding in which a mortgagee, or other lien holder, usually a lender, obtains a court ordered termination of a mortgagor's equitable right of redemption. Usually a lender obtains a security interest from a borrower who mortgages or pledges an asset like a house to secure the loan. If the borrower defaults and the lender tries to repossess the property, courts of equity can grant the borrower the equitable right of redemption if the borrower repays the debt. While this equitable right exists, the lender cannot be sure that it can successfully repossess the property, thus the lender seeks to foreclose the equitable right of redemption. Other lien holders can also foreclose the owner's right of redemption for other debts, such as for overdue taxes, unpaid contractors' bills or overdue homeowners' association dues or assessments.

The foreclosure process as applied to residential mortgage loans is a bank or other secured creditor selling or repossessing a parcel of real property (immovable property) after the owner has failed to comply with an agreement between the lender and borrower called a "mortgage" or "deed of trust". Commonly, the violation of the mortgage is a default in payment of a promissory note, secured by a lien on the property. When the process is complete, the lender can sell the property and keep the proceeds to pay off its mortgage and any legal costs, and it is typically said that "the lender has foreclosed its mortgage or lien". If the promissory note was made with a recourse clause then if the sale does not bring enough to pay the existing balance of principal and fees the mortgagee can file a claim for a deficiency judgement.

The mortgage holder can usually initiate foreclosure at a time specified in the mortgage documents, typically some period of time after a default condition occurs. Within the United States and many other countries, several types of foreclosure exist. Two of them – namely, by judicial sale and by power of sale – are widely used, but other modes of foreclosure are also possible in a few states.

Foreclosure by judicial sale, more commonly known as Judicial Foreclosure, is available in every state and required in many, involves the sale of the mortgaged property under the supervision of a court, with the proceeds going first to satisfy the mortgage; then other lien holders; and, finally, the mortgagor/borrower if any proceeds are left. As with all other legal actions, all parties must be notified of the foreclosure, but notification requirements vary significantly from state to state. A judicial decision is announced after pleadings at a (usually short) hearing in a state or local court. In some fairly rare instances, foreclosures are filed in Federal courts.

Foreclosure by power of sale, which is also allowed by many states if a power of sale clause is included in the mortgage or if a Deed of trust was used instead of a mortgage. In some states so-called mortgages are actually deeds of trust. This process involves the sale of the property by the mortgage holder without court supervision. It is generally more expedient than foreclosure by judicial sale. As in judicial sale, the mortgage holder and other lien holders are respectively first and second claimants to the proceeds from the sale.

Other types of foreclosure are considered minor because of their limited availability. Under strict foreclosure, which is available in a few states including Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont, suit is brought by the mortgagee and if successful, a court orders the defaulted mortgagor to pay the mortgage within a specified period of time. Should the mortgagor fail to do so, the mortgage holder gains the title to the property with no obligation to sell it. This type of foreclosure is generally available only when the value of the property is less than the debt ("under water"). Historically, strict foreclosure was the original method of foreclosure.

The concept of acceleration is used to determine the amount owed under foreclosure. Acceleration allows the mortgage holder to declare the entire debt of a defaulted mortgagor due and payable, when a term in the mortgage has been broken. If a mortgage is taken, for instance, on a $100,000 property and monthly payments are required, the mortgage holder can demand the mortgagor make good on the entire $100,000 if the mortgagor fails to make one or more of those payments. The mortgage holder will also include any unpaid property taxes and delinquent payments in this amount, so if the borrower does not have significant equity they will owe more than the original amount of the mortgage.

Lenders may also accelerate a loan if there is a transfer clause, obligating the mortgagor to notify the lender of any transfer, whether; a lease-option, lease-hold of 3 years or more, land contracts, agreement for deed, transfer of title or interest in the property.

The vast majority (but not all) of mortgages today have acceleration clauses. The holder of a mortgage without this clause has only two options: either to wait until all of the payments come due or convince a court to compel a sale of some parts of the property in lieu of the past due payments. Alternatively, the court may order the property sold subject to the mortgage, with the proceeds from the sale going to the payments owed the mortgage holder.

The process of foreclosure can be rapid or lengthy and varies from state to state. Other options such as refinancing, a short sale, alternate financing, temporary arrangements with the lender, or even bankruptcy may present homeowners with ways to avoid foreclosure. Websites which can connect individual borrowers and homeowners to lenders are increasingly offered as mechanisms to bypass traditional lenders while meeting payment obligations for mortgage providers.

In the United States, there are two types of foreclosure in most common law states. Using a "deed in lieu of foreclosure," or "strict foreclosure", the noteholder claims the title and possession of the property back in full satisfaction of a debt, usually on contract. In the proceeding simply known as foreclosure (or, perhaps, distinguished as "judicial foreclosure"), the property is subject to auction by the county sheriff or some other officer of the court. Many states require this sort of proceeding in some or all cases of foreclosure to protect any equity the debtor may have in the property, in case the value of the debt being foreclosed on is substantially less than the market value of the immovable property (this also discourages strategic foreclosure). In this foreclosure, the sheriff then issues a deed to the winning bidder at auction. Banks and other institutional lenders may bid in the amount of the owed debt at the sale but there are a number of other factors that may influence the bid, and if no other buyers step forward the lender receives title to the immovable property in return.

Other states have adopted non-judicial foreclosure procedures in which the mortgagee, or more commonly the mortgagee's servicer's attorney or designated agent, gives the debtor a notice of default and the mortgagee's intent to sell the immovable property in a form prescribed by state statute. This type of foreclosure is commonly referred to as "statutory" or "non-judicial" foreclosure, as opposed to "judicial". With this "power-of-sale" type of foreclosure, if the debtor fails to cure the default, or use other lawful means (such as filing for bankruptcy, which temporarily stays the foreclosure) to stop the sale, the mortgagee or its representative conduct a public auction in a similar manner to the sheriff's auction. The highest bidder at the auction becomes the owner of the immovable property, free and clear of interest of the former owner, but possibly encumbered by liens superior to the foreclosed mortgage (e.g., a senior mortgage or unpaid property taxes). Further legal action, such as an eviction may be necessary to obtain possession of the premises.

Defenses - The Constitutional Issue of Due Process has affected the ability of lenders to foreclose property. In Ohio, the Federal District Court has dismissed numerous foreclosure actions by lenders because of the inability of the alleged lender to prove that they are the real party in interest. In Colorado, on June 19, 2008, a District Court Judge dismissed a foreclosure action because of failure of the alleged lender to prove they were the real party in interest.

"Strict foreclosure" is an equitable right available in some states. The strict foreclosure period arises after the foreclosure sale has taken place and is available to the foreclosure sale purchaser. The foreclosure sale purchaser must petition a court for a decree that cuts off any junior lien holder's rights to redeem the senior debt. If the junior lien holder fails to do so within the judicially established time frame, his lien is canceled and the purchaser's title is cleared. This effect is the same as the strict foreclosure that occurred at common law in England's courts of equity as a response to the development of the equity of redemption.

In most jurisdictions it is customary for the foreclosing lender to obtain a title search of the immovable property and to notify all other persons who may have liens on the property, whether by judgment, by contract, or by statute or other law, so that they may appear and assert their interest in the foreclosure litigation. In all US jurisdictions a lender who conducts a foreclosure sale of immovable property which is the subject of a federal tax lien must give 25 days' notice of the sale to the Internal Revenue Service: failure to give notice to the IRS results in the lien remaining attached to the immovable property after the sale. Therefore, it is imperative the lender search local Federal Tax Liens so if parties involved in the foreclosure have a federal tax lien filed against them, the proper notice to the IRS is given. A detailed explanation by the IRS of the Federal Tax Lien process can be found.^[4]

The US congress passed, and President Bush signed into law, a temporary change to the tax code. For the period Jan. 1, 2007, through Dec. 31, 2012, homeowners do not have to pay tax on canceled debt.  This is known as the .

Because the right of redemption is an equitable right, foreclosure is an action in equity. To keep the right of redemption, the debtor can ask an equity court for an injunction. If repossession is imminent the debtor must seek a temporary restraining order. However, the debtor may have to post a bond in the amount of the debt. This protects the creditor if the attempt to stop foreclosure is simply an attempt to escape the debt.

A debtor may also challenge the validity of the debt in a claim against the bank to stop the foreclosure and sue for damages. In a foreclosure proceeding, the lender bears the burden of proving that there was a valid debt. There is case law to support the debtor's case: First National Bank of Montgomery vs. Jerome Daly, 1969, in the Justice Court State of Minnesota the Judge ruled in favor of the debtor on December 9, 1968: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED: 1.That the Plaintiff is not entitled to recover the possession of Lot 19, Fairview Beach, Scott County, Minnesota according to the Plat thereof on file in the Register of Deeds office. 2.That because of failure of a lawful consideration the Note and Mortgage dated May 8, 1964 are null and void. 3.That the Sheriff’s sale of the above described premises held on June 26, 1967 is null and void, of no effect.That because of failure of a lawful consideration the Note and Mortgage dated May 8, 1964 are null and void.

When the entity (in the US, typically a county sheriff or designee) auctions a foreclosed property the noteholder may set the starting price as the remaining balance on the mortgage loan. However, there are a number of issues that affect how pricing for properties is considered, including bankruptcy rulings. In a weak market the foreclosing party may set the starting price at a lower amount if it believes the real estate securing the loan is worth less than the remaining principal of the loan.

In the case where the remaining mortgage balance is higher than the actual home value the foreclosing party is unlikely to attract auction bids at this price level. A house that went through a foreclosure auction and failed to attract any acceptable bids may remain the property of the owner of the mortgage. That inventory is called REO (real estate owned). In these situations the owner/servicer tries to sell it through standard real estate channels.

The mortgagor may be required to pay for Private Mortgage Insurance, or PMI, for as long as the principal of his primary mortgage is above 80% of the value of his property. In most situations, insurance requirements are sufficient to guarantee that the lender gets some pre-defined percentage of the loan value back, either from foreclosure auction proceeds or from PMI or a combination thereof.

Nevertheless, in an illiquid real estate market or following a significant drop in real estate prices, it may happen that the property being foreclosed is sold for less than the remaining balance on the primary mortgage loan, and there may be no insurance to cover the loss. In this case, the court overseeing the foreclosure process may enter a deficiency judgment against the mortgagor. Deficiency judgments can be used to place a lien on the borrower's other property that obligates the mortgagor to repay the difference. It gives lender a legal right to collect the remainder of debt out of mortgagor's other assets (if any).

There are exceptions to this rule, however. If the mortgage is a non-recourse debt (which is often the case with owner-occupied residential mortgages in the U.S.), lender may not go after borrower's assets to recoup his losses. Lender's ability to pursue deficiency judgment may be restricted by state laws. In California and some other states, original mortgages (the ones taken out at the time of purchase) are typically non-recourse loans; however, refinanced loans and home equity lines of credit aren't.

If the lender chooses not to pursue deficiency judgment—or can't because the mortgage is non-recourse—and writes off the loss, the borrower may have to pay income taxes on the unrepaid amount if it can be considered "forgiven debt." However, recent changes in tax laws may change the way these amounts are reported.^{[citation needed]}

Any liens resulting from other loans taken out against the property being foreclosed (second mortgages, HELOCs) are "wiped out" by foreclosure, but the borrower is still obligated to pay those loans off if they are not paid out of the foreclosure auction's proceeds.

In the wake of the United States housing bubble and the subsequent subprime mortgage crisis there has been increased interest in renegotiation or modification of the mortgage loans rather than foreclosure, and some commentators have speculated that the crisis was exacerbated by the "unwillingness of lenders to renegotiate mortgages". Several policies, including the U.S. Treasury sponsored HopeNow initiative and the 2009 "Making Home Affordable" plan have offered incentives to renegotiate mortgages. Renegotiations can include lowering the principal due or temporarily reducing the interest rate. A 2009 study by Federal Reserve economists found that even using a broad definition of renegotiation, only 3% of "seriously delinquent borrowers" received a modification. The leading theory attributes the lack of renegotiation to securitization and a large number of claimants with security interest in the mortgage. There is some support behind this theory, but an analysis of the data found that renegotiation rates were similar among unsecuritized and securitized mortgages. The authors of the analysis argue that banks don't typically renegotiate because they expect to make more money with a foreclosure, as renegotiation imposes "self-cure" and "redefault" risks.

Myth: I'll just file bankruptcy and start over; it seems so easy.
Truth: Bankruptcy is a gut-wrenching, life-changing event that causes lifelong damage.

Bankruptcy -- That word sends chills up the spine. If you are facing the prospect of bankruptcy or in the middle of it right now, you know it's a living nightmare. It can devastate your job, destroy your marriage and steal your peace of mind.

Bankruptcy is not something I recommend any more than I would recommend jumping off a bridge without a parachute. Are there times when good people see no way out and file bankruptcy? Yes, but I will still talk you out of bankruptcy if given the opportunity. Very few people who have been through bankruptcy would report that it is a painless wiping-clean of the slate, after which you merrily trot off into your future to start fresh.

Don't let anyone fool you. I have seen those that have been through bankruptcy and have worked with bankruptcy filed by clients for decades, and it is not a place you want to visit. Bankruptcy is listed in the top five life-altering negative events that we can go through, along with divorce, severe illness, disability, and loss of a loved one. I would never say that bankruptcy is as bad as losing a loved one, but it is life-altering and leaves deep wounds both to the psyche and the credit report.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, which is total bankruptcy, stays on your credit report for 10 years.

 Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, more like a payment plan, stays on your credit report for seven years. Bankruptcy, however, is for life. Loan applications and many job applications ask if you have ever filed for bankruptcy. Ever. If you lie to get a loan because your bankruptcy is very old, technically you have committed criminal fraud.

Most bankruptcy cases can be avoided with proper help, such as certified counselors. Your counselors may make suggestions that involve extensive amputation of stuff, which will be painful, but bankruptcy is much more painful. If you take the thoughtful step backward to get on solid ground instead of looking at the false allure of the quick fix that bankruptcy seems to offer, you will win more quickly and easily. I know many who have experienced the pain of bankruptcy, foreclosure, and lawsuits. Most will tell you, "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, and it is not worth it."

The number of bankruptcies in the US is rising at a dangerous speed. This is a serious problem! How can you know if you're on the road toward bankruptcy? Here are 7 warning signs:

1. Not using a budget
2. No control over spending
3. No emergency fund
4. Having a house you can’t afford
5. Owning a car you can’t afford
6. Using credit cards
7. Having student loans

Bankruptcy can creep up on you no matter how great things may be going for you right now. If you see the warning signs in your life, it is time to make some serious changes. It is time to take control of your money instead of it controlling you! But it starts with you making the decision! Check out the beginning steps to steer yourself clear of bankruptcy:

• Build up a beginner emergency fund of $1,000. Sock this money away as quickly as possible. Emergencies will happen so be prepared.
• Start living on a monthly budget. Make sure you cover the basics first - housing, utilities, food and transportation. Then use what is left over to aggressively pay down debt.
• Attack your debt! Evaluate what you can sell to cut your debt. Consider taking on a part-time job to accelerate your climb out of debt. Sell so much stuff that the kids think they're next!
• Add to the emergency fund. Once you are out of "crisis mode" (all debt but the house paid off) focus on getting 3-6 months of expenses in your emergency fund. When it's fully funded, you can start making your money work for you!
• Use a program like Money Merge to help you accelerate your debt reductions and monitor your purchasing and budget directions.

Bankruptcy is a process established by a set of federal laws that is designed to give debtors a “fresh start” by canceling many of their debts through an order of the court.

Bankruptcy also allows creditors who are owed money a chance to get their designated share of any money the debtors can afford to, or are obligated to, pay back.

When a bankruptcy is filed, creditors have to stop any attempt to collect a debt, at least temporarily. There is usually immediate relief from creditor pressure, and a bankruptcy can stop a pending foreclosure sale of your home, a garnishment of your wages, or a threatened repossession. Most creditors cannot call, write or sue you after you have filed bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy is listed in the top five life-altering negative events that we can go through, along with divorce, severe illness, disability, and loss of a loved one. Very few people that have gone through bankruptcy would say that it is just a painless cleaning of your debts, where afterwards you can easily begin your new life.

A chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is a total bankruptcy, will stay on your credit report for 10 years.

A chapter 13 bankruptcy, which is similar to a payment plan, can stay on your credit report for 10 years, but some consumer credit reporting agencies remove the chapter 13 after seven years. If you are applying for a job with a salary of more than $75,000 a year, you can be asked if you have ever filed bankruptcy.

There is no time limitation to this; anytime you apply for a job for the rest of your life you can be asked this question. Also, when you apply for credit or life insurance that is worth more than $150,000, you can be asked if you have ever filed for bankruptcy. There is also no time limitation to this question. If you lie to get a loan or insurance because your bankruptcy is very old, technically you have committed criminal fraud.