You may have heard that the Biden administration extended a foreclosure moratorium until at least this summer. This is good news if you are behind on your house payments, but, it does not mean that you are home free.

First, the moratorium covers federally backed mortgages. As most home loans in this country are in some way backed by the federal government, most homeowners are protected, but, you should check to make sure, some loans are not federally backed, these are not covered by the moratorium, and, owner financed contracts for deed are not covered, and, the foreclosure process for a contract for deed, called cancellation, is much faster than traditional mortgage foreclosure. Even assuming that your mortgage is covered by the moratorium, if payments are not made arrears will build up, and, whenever the moratorium ends you will need to get current, or face foreclosure at that time.

Bottom line, if you are behind on your payments you have a little breathing room, but, be thinking about how you will ge caught up when the moratorium ends. Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a great way to buy time to get caught up on payments. For more info on Chapter 13 click here.