The Mortgage Bankers Association released a report stating that 11.5 percent of subprime loans in Texas were in foreclosure or facing imminent foreclosure. The foreclosure rate was only 9 percent last year. Many of these subprime homeowners have adjustable-rate mortgages with interest rates that have reset to unaffordable levels. One of those borrowers, a 78-year-old veteran featured in the Dallas Morning News, is facing foreclosure after seeing his mortgage payments double. Like so many other seniors caught in the web of this subprime mess, he first ran into trouble when he accumulated over $3000 in medical debt and just could no longer pay all his bills. Although his mortgage servicer will try to help him avoid foreclosure, he has less than a month before his home is sold from under him. This senior citizen facing foreclosure lives on disability and has extremely limited income.
The 78-year-old veteran facing foreclosure is the perfect candidate for bankruptcy. It is highly unlikely that he can renegotiate that subprime loan in time to save his home from foreclosure; but bankruptcy can be filed immediately to buy him more time. This is the type of information that mortgage companies should be required to tell homeowners facing foreclosure.