Real Estate Foreclosure lawyer Oklahoma City, OK
If you have not yet paid off your mortgage and you’ve missed numerous consecutive payments, you may be waiting for the dreaded letter or call informing you that you are facing foreclosure. You likely believe that you don’t have any options. However, you may have more opportunities to avoid foreclosure than you realize. It’s important not to make assumptions about your legal and financial situation until you’ve spoken with an experienced foreclosure lawyer Oklahoma City, OK residents trust. When you schedule a confidential, no-risk consultation with the team at Marty Martin Bankruptcy Law, you can obtain answers to all of your questions and explore your legal and financial options with the help of a seasoned professional. Meeting with an Oklahoma City, OK real estate foreclosure lawyer can be intimidating. But doing so just might allow you to save your home.
Option 1: Filing Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
Filing for bankruptcy isn’t generally a good idea if you are only having trouble with your mortgage. If your mortgage is the only bill you’re struggling with, our firm may be able to help you secure a mortgage modification that will make paying this debt off more manageable. However, if you’re behind in your mortgage, chances are good that your missed mortgage payments are part of a larger pattern of debt issues. If so, filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy may be right for you.
When you first file for bankruptcy, the court issues an “automatic stay” that temporarily halts all creditor activities, including foreclosure. Once you are in the process of bankruptcy, you may be granted up to 60 months (five years) to become current on your mortgage payments. If you can keep making monthly payments throughout the life of your bankruptcy, it is often manageable to spread out the past-due payments over that same time frame without incurring additional financial hardship.
Option 2: Alleging Improper Procedures
Remember the housing foreclosure crisis that accompanied the Great Recession in 2008? As bad as that situation was for borrowers, its “silver lining” was that it managed to expose the unethical and illegal practices of many mortgage lenders. It is reasonable to assume that some are still engaged in these shady practices.
Under Oklahoma law, mortgage lenders must follow strict practices and procedures related to the mortgage itself and the foreclosure process. If your lender failed to follow these practices in a manner that adversely impacted your ability to keep your home, an experienced attorney may be able to help you obtain court intervention and either stop foreclosure or give you more time to become current on payments.
Option 3: Challenging Mortgage Terms
Mortgage lenders cannot issue loans under any terms they choose. Terms, conditions and interest rates must be reasonable. In some (rare) cases, homeowners have been able to convince courts that their mortgages were “unconscionable.” If the court makes this ruling, it could order that the foreclosure process be stopped and that the lender draft new, fairer terms for the mortgage. This is a difficult legal path to take, but may be worth exploring with the help of an Oklahoma City, OK real estate foreclosure lawyer.
Option 4: Exercising Rights As Active-Duty Military
If you are active-duty military, you have special protections against foreclosure activity during your active service. Under the terms of the Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA), lenders are very restricted in the foreclosure activities they can engage in while you are deployed. Taking the time to learn about your rights under the SCRA could just save your home.
Contact a Real Estate Foreclosure Lawyer Oklahoma City, OK, Trusts
Our firm is ready to help you protect against foreclosure and to help you save your home if doing so is at all possible. To learn more, contact us to arrange your initial consultation with our Oklahoma City, OK real estate foreclosure lawyer team. We look forward to speaking with you.