Bankruptcy is Another Alternative for Stopping Foreclosure
Photo by Renjith Krishnan
A couple from Robeson Townshipin Pennsylvania unable to contact their lender, facing foreclosure somehow saved their home by filing for bankruptcy (Chapter 13). Naomi and Joseph Nepple aged fifty two and fifty nine respectively were saddled with a debt of $14,000 on their mortgage dues.
They missed out on taking part in Berks County Mortgage Foreclosure programme scheduled to kick off from 1st January. Judge Jeffrey Schmehl sympathized with the position of the Nepples. As per the programme the representatives of the lender would have to be present at settlement meetings.
Lawyer Brenna H. Mendelsohn, representing the couple deals with personal bankruptcy. Mendelsohn opined that the new programme would help those troubled house owners who were being ignored by their lenders. She said, “If there are cases where the new programme works that would be great. It’s too late for Naomi and her husband because they have already filed for bankruptcy”.
The bankruptcy case will enable the Nepples to continue to stay in the house, pay off the accrued debt and make fresh payments. The bankruptcy process would clear their dues on credit card dues also. Mendelsohn remarked that the bankruptcy is another alternative for stopping foreclosure. Those that apply for it pay their dues to the court and continue with their mortgages.
Nepple expressed her gratitude to the lawyer for help in straightening out their finances.
Naomi Nepple was a computer operator with a sportswear firm of Reading. She was retrenched in 2007. She took training covering two years in a programme dealing with criminal justice but even after graduating she could not find a job in this stream. From 2009 her financial troubles started.
Price of fuel was shooting up and her husband badly needed money to operate his business. He began to use his credit cards to fill the tanks of his dump trucks. He hauled in his trucks stone as well as sand. Together the couple ran into debt amounting to over $30,000 on their credit cards.
Soon a time came when they began to default on their house mortgage amounting to $1,500 per month. Nepple tried but failed to meet any representative of the lender. All she could do was to make phone calls; the whole thing was frustrating.
Mendelsohn referring to the filing of bankruptcy said, “She’s on the right track. The new programme may have helped her too. It does make the bank talk to you. Bankruptcy is a great opportunity to save your home”. Meanwhile Nepple has got a job and is now earning per month 41,200 to $1,500.
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