Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

I am paying 100$ / month to a collection agency for a fannie may homesaver loan that my house was foreclosed upon. What happens if I quit paying?


Asked on 2/19/16, 8:56 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Is the home in Pennsylvania? How much do you owe? Did the lender get some kind of deficiency judgment against you for the loan balance?

It depends. If no judgment was entered, the lender can usually go after you and sue you. Whether they do or not may depend on your circumstances. If they do, you may want to consider bankruptcy.

If a judgment was already entered, then stopping payments does no good unless you are planning on filing bankruptcy. Judgments can last for 20 years on personal property and 5 years on real property unless renewed.

Even though your home was foreclosed on, I don't know if you are married and what other assets you have that may or may not be at risk of seizure if a judgment is entered. I also don't know how much of a balance is left. Maybe it would make more sense to stop paying for awhile, save the money and then try to settle for less than 100% of whatever the balance is. Or maybe it makes sense to file bankruptcy.

The point is, no lawyer can give you an honest answer to your question without knowing more details about your whole situation and income/debt/asset picture. Many attorneys give free bankruptcy consults and even if you get one it does not mean you have to file. I also see you are in the western part of the state. I know Attorney Greg Artim here at Law Guru does free consults. He is not a bankruptcy attorney but he handles debts. I am sure there are others. What you need to do is let someone review your whole picture and give you an opinion as to whether you need to quit paying or not.

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Answered on 2/24/16, 8:02 pm


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