Will I Lose My House In A Bankruptcy?

[Glenn Dorsey]

If I file for bankruptcy, will I lose my home to the mortgage company? That's the question I was wondering. If any of you have a better answer, please let me know. Here is the answer I got from doing a search on it:

If you are behind on all of your bills, and you can't keep up with your home mortgage notes, maybe you are considering a bankruptcy. A bankruptcy will allow you to discharge most of your debts, but what happens to your home that you live in, that still has a mortgage on it?

You can file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. if the debtor resides or has a place of domicile, a place of business, or property in the U.S. and must not have been granted a Chapter 7 discharge within the last 6 years or not have completed a Chapter 13 plan withing the last 6 years, and must not have had a bankruptcy filing dismissed for cause within the last 180 days.

The bankruptcy laws are designed to relieve a person of his overwhelming debts. Federal bankruptcy law is premised on the very basic policy that the honest debtor who is in debt beyond his or her ability to repay their debts should be given a second chance, a financial 'fresh start', through the discharge of debts in a bankruptcy proceeding.

Homes are generally granted greater protection and exempt value than other property because of the value placed on home ownership in America. In general, if the equity in the house is exempt and the debtor keeps making the payments, the debtor can keep the house after filing either a chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcy. If the debtor does have a nonexempt interest in the home, chapter 13 can be used to 'force' the creditor/lender to accept a repayment plan to 'catch up' the delinquent payments and cure the default.

Correct me if I am wrong, but it does seem that you can usually keep the home after bankruptcy, if you keep making payments on the home mortgage. Correct???