Dealing With Foreclosure: Should You Walk If You Can Afford The Payments?
ByHomes throughout the United States are seeing profound dips in value. Almost no place has escaped this decline. Some homeowners have been able to hang on and keep up with payments. But not everyone is so fortunate. In fact, there is no decrease to the number of homeowners dealing with foreclosure.
If you’ve been in your home for a number of years and have built quite a bit of equity, there is no question that you will want to weather the storm and keep making your payments if at all possible. Even though your home has lost a lot of its value, over time hopefully this value will return.
Then there are those people who purchased homes over the past few years, with little to no down payment, because they were promised very low interest rates for the first year or two. Once the interest rates increased so too did payments, making foreclosure almost certain.
But what about those who are still working and can afford to make their payments? There is a growing trend among some of these homeowners to just walk away, stop making payments and let their homes go into foreclosure.
The fact is that even though they can afford their mortgage payments they have come to a sobering conclusion. They realize that no matter how much cash they pour into paying down their mortgage, their homes are losing value faster than they can pay them down. They feel that it’s just not worth it to keep paying.
But everything is different when you are dealing with foreclosure that you choose to allow to happen. Before you let it happen, it’s important to seriously think about the long range consequences of your actions. That’s because the same rules won’t apply to you. So just what can you expect if you allow this kind of foreclosure to happen?
Well, for starters, government officials have stated that the “forgiveness” clause that can be applied to people who legitimately lose their home to foreclosure won’t apply to people who choose a foreclosure even though they can afford payments. They have not yet revealed what steps, if any, they are prepared to take to stop these walk away by choice foreclosures.
There is no doubt that your credit rating will be negatively affected. It’s quite possible that the penalties may last longer or be more severe. Financial institutions are especially concerned because of the fact that if you’ve chosen to walk away from financial obligations once, what’s to stop you from doing it again at some future time.
If you have a notation on your credit report to this effect, you may have more difficulty getting financing for other major purchases. If you are able to get financing, it’s quite possible that you will pay much higher interest rates. You may not be able to even get a credit card for a long while.
In the future, will banks and mortgage companies be willing to finance mortgages for those who default by choice? Or will this choice have a negative impact in future years?
There is no definitive answer as to what exactly will happen. But before making the decision to walk away, carefully consider what dealing with foreclosure under these circumstances may mean for you, not just now but in the future.
If you and your family are facing foreclosure, you need help. Get free foreclosure information and find out how to stop a foreclosure.
