If you are facing a sheriff sale in Northampton County, you may be wondering what you can do to stop the sheriff sale. If the sole issue that you are dealing with is falling behind on your mortgage payments and facing a sheriff sale, I would typically recommend submitting a loan modification application. However, most mortgage servicers will not review a loan modification application if the application is submitted within 30 days of the sheriff sale.
If resolving the past due amount on the mortgage is not possible with a loan modification application, you should consider a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The reason a Chapter 13 bankruptcy can stop a sheriff sale is because of the automatic stay. The bankruptcy court’s automatic stay will stop all legal actions – including foreclosure actions – from proceeding as soon as the bankruptcy case is filed.
Once a Chapter 13 case is filed, the Northampton County Sheriff and the law firm that filed the foreclosure action should both be notified of the bankruptcy filing so they are made aware that the sheriff sale cannot proceed because of the bankruptcy. The mortgage arrears can then be resolved through the Chapter 13 plan. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy allows a person to repay debts such as the arrears on the mortgage over a period of up to 5 years.
After a person files bankruptcy, they will resume their regular monthly mortgage payments. The Chapter 13 plan will then propose to pay the past due amount on the mortgage. For example, if your mortgage payment is $2,000.00 per month and you’ve missed 15 payments, the mortgage is $30,000.00 past due. If you file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the Chapter 13 Plan will pay the mortgage lender back $30,000.00 over a period of 5 years and you would resume your normal mortgage payments after the bankruptcy case is filed.
If you are interested in discussing a foreclosure action, an upcoming sheriff sale, or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, feel free to call me at (610) 417-6345. You can find out if your home is listed for an upcoming sheriff sale in Northampton County here. I would be happy to discuss the case with you to review all options to stop a sheriff sale in Northampton County. I am a bankruptcy attorney located in Bethlehem, PA.
