Walk It Through: Behind On Everything
A foreclosure suit, a judgment creditor at the door, and a credit card from years back.
After months of missed mortgage payments, the lender files a foreclosure suit and the house is sold at the courthouse.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
A household in debt. Bankruptcy, loan modification, the federal debt collection rules, medical debt and credit reporting are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- DeficiencyThe balance left owing after repossessed goods are sold, which a consumer owes only if the creditor disposed of the goods in good faith and in a commercially reasonable manner.
- Deficiency judgmentA judgment for whatever remains of a mortgage debt after the foreclosure sale, against a borrower personally liable for it, or against another person who guaranteed it.
- Security/rental depositProperty or money a landlord holds as security, returned at the end of the tenancy less accrued rent and damages from the tenant's failure to keep up the unit, with any deduction itemized in writing.
- Upset bidA higher bid entered after a judicial foreclosure sale, while the bidding stays open until the thirtieth day after it, by anyone other than the highest bidder, with the required deposit.
- Exempt propertyProperty of a debtor that cannot be attached, levied on or sold to pay a judgment, such as a residence up to $50,000, one vehicle up to $5,000 and household goods up to $4,000.
- GarnishmentTaking a debtor's unpaid earnings through the employer. On a debt from a consumer credit sale, consumer lease, consumer loan or rental-purchase agreement, a creditor may not do it.
- Rental-purchase agreementAn agreement to use household goods for an initial period of four months or less, renewable with each payment, that lets the renter become the owner.