Bank Lets Some Homeowners Stop Foreclosure This Christmas
Citibank is giving a few thousand Americans the ultimate Christmas gift this year. Problem is, there isn't enough to go around.
The megabank recently announced it would put foreclosures and evictions on hold for some 4,000 homeowners this holiday, according to MSNBC.com. The break applies to homeowners with Citibank-owned loans and lasts through the middle of January.
It's intended to reduce stress during this already crazy time of year, said a company spokesman. And I'm sure it will for those 4,000 people, temporarily anyway. But what about the millions of other Americans that are on the brink of losing their homes?
Earlier this year, it seemed that homeowners would finally get a break thanks to the President's loan modification program. But of the 100,000 folks who were enrolled, only 270 received permanent modifications by the end of last month. That's a tiny drop in an enormous bucket.
Stopping foreclosure is still a possibility for countless homeowners struggling to balance their Christmas shopping with their mortgage payment - it just might not come in the form of a government handout.
Maybe the biggest problem with Uncle Sam's program isn't that it's not working, but that it gives us false hope. Rather than confront the possibility of foreclosure, we take the path of denial. We hope that the government can perform a Christmas miracle and make our late payment fees and foreclosure notices magically go away. But this isn't a movie; it's real life. If you want to keep your house, you're going to have to stand up and fight for it.
It's not as impossible as you might believe. If you truly can't afford your mortgage payments because of circumstances like out-of-control credit card debt, you could be a candidate for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Filing for bankruptcy has the ability to legally stop the foreclosure process while you get back on your financial feet, thanks to an affordable payment plan that will reduce or eliminate your debt.
Want to find out if bankruptcy is right for you? Just sign up for a free personal debt analysis with one of our Atlanta bankruptcy attorneys. We'll answer your questions, go over your concerns and help get you on the track to financial freedom. If you've been looking for a miracle, this might be it.