Illinois Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

Recent changes made to the Home Affordable Refinancing Program (HARP) by the O'Bama Administration will allow some, but by no means all, homeowners to refinance to a lower interest rate and save on their monthly payments - even if they would not ordinarily qualify for refinancing from their lender.

Those changes to HARP cut fees for borrowers who want to refinance into short-term loans and pay off their loans faster. The changes also permit borrowers who owe more than 125% of their home's value - i.e. that are underwater - from accessing the program.

To qualify borrowers must have a mortgage that

1. Is now owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac
2. Was sold to one of the agencies on or before May 31, 2009
3. Is now worth between 80% and 125% of your home's value
4. Has never been refinanced under the HAR program before
   

Step #1: Find out if your mortgage is owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac

Step #2: Contact a HARP-approved lender to discuss your refinance options

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The old saying is that you can't escape death and taxes. This is especially true in terms of bankruptcy. In this case the Debtor's mother passed away and the Debtor failed to disclose his inheritance to the Trustee. During the Debtor's 341 meeting, the typical question of whether or not the Debtor expected any inheritances came up. The Debtor told the Trustee that his mother was very ill. The Trustee told him that he was under an obligation to report any inheritance within the next 6 months. The mother dies 2 days after the 341 meeting. The Debtor disclaimed some of the inheritance, took some of it, and received 'gifts' from his brother. During the subsequent investigation, it was found that the Debtor also failed to list a few bank accounts in addition to failing to notify the Trustee of the inheritance. Not surprisingly, the Debtor and his brother were charged with and found guilty of bankruptcy fraud.

According to this press release from the American Bankruptcy Institute, total consumer bankruptcy filings in the first 9 months of 2011 totaled 1,044,722: a 10% decrease from the 1,165,172 filings recorded during the same period a year ago. The statistic is based on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center (NBKRC).

September consumer bankruptcies decreased 17% from September 2010. Data showed that consumer filings in September reached 108,517 - down from the 130,329 recorded in September 2010.

"The trend of declining filings has been consistent with consumers continuing to reign in their spending, household debt, and an overall pull back in consumer credit," said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. "Total consumer filings for 2011 will be less than 2010."

The September 2011 filings also represented a 4 percent decrease from the August 2011 consumer bankruptcy total of 113,432 filings, a slight change that could be the result of one less day in the month. The percentage of chapter 13 filings for September was 30 percent, a one percent increase from August.