Black and Buono Blog

...by Anthony Buono

There are times when a situation you believe will end up in bankruptcy actually ends up as a success story. When you hire the right lawyers who look at the whole situation and are able to assess your needs, what you thought was a bad situation can end up with a happy ending.

We had a couple in their 70’s that had a lot of equity in their home. However their home had a mortgage. They were living on their savings and social security and the wife took a fall. The injury incurred quite a bit of uninsured medical expenses, which essentially completely depleted their savings.  They wanted to stay in their home, however they were not able to take any equity out of the house and they were not eligible for refinance or a reverse mortgage because of their limited amount of savings. They did have some assets but they were not easily available to them.

They came to us thinking that they were going to file bankruptcy. Now even though we are bankruptcy counselors, if we can help clients avoid filing for bankruptcy protection, we encourage them to do so. We were able to connect them to a private lender who was able to give them a competitive rate to allow them to refinance both their mortgage and equity rate. They were able to refinance and for a  period of time they were able to make payments interest. They were able to continue on for two years until such time that they were able to relocate to NC, which had been part of their original plan.

This was terrific because it allowed a situation which could have ended in bankruptcy to be completely avoided. It was a win win situation. The lender was happy and the clients were extremely appreciative. We are always pleased when we can do that for someone.