Recent economic news shows that unemployment in Georgia is continuing to rise. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the state lost over 22,000 jobs in September. While that number was down from the 24,800 lost jobs from August to September, it still places Georgia second only to Michigan in the number of lost jobs in September. The unemployment rate in the state has hit a 16 year high 6.5 percent, according to the agency’s report.
With more workers in Georgia competing for fewer and fewer jobs, people are having a hard time paying their bills. As more and more fall behind on credit card bills and mortgage payments, they may be faced with the threat of lawsuits and home foreclosure.
A recent report in the Atlanta Journal Constitution said that lenders and consumer advocates in Georgia have been slow to rework mortgages with homeowners facing foreclosure despite the growing number of homes in foreclosure proceedings.
Shelia Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, recently told the Wall Street Journal that if mortgage defaults are the heart of the issue, then banks should “tackle the borrower problem.” She has encouraged lenders to work with homeowners to keep them in their homes and stem losses from foreclosures for over a year.
Some blame lenders, who until recently were unwilling to negotiate homeowners out of adjustable-rate mortgages and into fixed-rate loans. Other say that the magnitude of the problem caught bankers and consumer debt counselors off guard and that they were unprepared to deal with the problem. No matter, there is plenty of blame to go around, from the homeowner who borrowed more than they could afford to pay without reading the fine print, to mortgage brokers who fudged numbers and misled borrowers.
With the availability of credit shrinking, borrowing your way out of a financial emergency may no longer be an option. Keeping your head above water is now something you may have to do without the help of credit cards and payday loans. If you are having trouble making it from one payday to the next, bankruptcy could help you pay off your existing debt and get out from under crippling credit-card bills.
Anyone facing the challenges of unemployment or under employment (having to take a low-paying job just to keep income flowing) knows the challenge of keeping food on the table and a roof overhead. Filing for bankruptcy may provide some relief for consumers facing these types of challenges. Chapter 13 bankruptcy can stop home foreclosure and restructure your outstanding debt into a more manageable payment plan.
Review your situation with a local, reliable bankruptcy attorney who can advise you about the options that are available to you.
