Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Rhode Island
Do I still owe after forecloser and repo. of my property?
After the bank forecloses on my property, do I owe the difference between what I owed the bank at the time of foreclosure and what they soled the property for. Property was 34000.00 they say I still owe 19000.00. I find this hard to believe. I am thinking of bankruptcy becaue of this. The foreclosure was over 6 years ago they just contacted me 1 year ago regarding the 19000.00.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Do I still owe after forecloser and repo. of my property?
Assuming you personally signed the Promissory Note to the bank, and the mortgage secured your promise to repay, then yes, you typically would be liable for the "deficiency," being the difference between the balance due under the note and the amount recovered at foreclosure. This is a highly complex area of the law, however, and you really should see an attorney, as there are a million different arguments against such collection efforts, etc. At a minimum, a good lawyer would try to arrange a settlement whereby you pay the bank something small, which they may be happy to get if they know you're thinking about bankruptcy. The lawyer's fee might be relatively small compared to the amount you might save.