Playing the Lender's Dangerous Game: the 24-Hour Bankruptcy Office

This office receives a lot of calls from people who are going back and forth with their lenders, getting their foreclosure "stopped" for a week or month at a time.  They want to retain a bankruptcy attorney to file a bankruptcy petition once these attempts at "stopping" foreclosure fail - or, even worse - in case one fails soon.  Usually we know these cases right away - the first thing these individuals want to know is "how late we are open" - and whether we are open on weekends.  In other words, they want to be able to depend on a dependable attorney in case the undependable people they are depending on act the way they expect them too!


A good bankruptcy attorney will advise you not to pay the lender's game of pleading for - and counting on - oral representations from telephone customer representatives to "save" the house for a week or month at a time.  A good bankruptcy attorney can explain to you that those individuals can make oral representations that they will stop or postpone the foreclosure, but that if they foreclose anyway you are not going to be able to afford to argue that it was not fair.  We have seen it happen plenty of times.

An attorney can also probably explain to you that they have seen lots of situations where people caught up in this dangerous game allowed other debts to slip out of their control.  Just when they thought the mortgage problem was postponed for another 30 days - (after making tens of hours of phone calls and letting their career and family obligations slide) - the IRS garnishes their paycheck or they get served with a collections lawsuit.

Don't play the lender's dangerous game - if you are facing a potential foreclosure you should discuss the matter with a competent bankruptcy attorney and look for a real solution.  Don't waste all of your emotional energy depending on part-time help at a lender's call center to look out for you.  Those individuals cannot be trusted when your home is on the line.  A good bankruptcy attorney will not wait around to see a client lose their house because they believed the things they were told on the phone were true.  A good attorney will not want first-rate legal advice to be a mere backup plan for when lender phone games go unexpectedly.

Usually people with forelcosure problems have other debts too.  If you want to save your house, and deal with your other debts, bankruptcy may address all of your financial problems.  The person on the other end of the phone at your mortgage company is not going to help you prioritize your debts - their goal is to get as much money as they can for their employer.  Your priority in finding an attorney should be one who you are comfortable with and will do what is in your best interest.  It is never in your best interest to play the lender's dangerous game.