If you talk to the scores of homeowners facing foreclosure and workers facing long-term unemployment, there seems to be a recurrent theme. Debtors are willing to pay as much as they can to satisfy outstanding debts but creditors are unbending in their unwillingness to help. Credit card lenders unwilling to drop minimum payment requirements temporarily and mortgage lenders unwilling to grant loan modifications or to approve short sales are just a few of the gripes many indebted individuals have. Many of these debtors are formerly fully employed people with good or even excellent credit but once they become unemployed, face foreclosure or are hit with a medical emergency, they are finding that creditors fail to take their past good history into account when it comes to giving them a break during their financial crisis. But this really should be no surprise. Creditors make the most money when debtors default and they are able to charge astronomical interest rates, fees and penalties. And in the case of home foreclosure, mortgage lenders profit the most when they can foreclose on homes that are nearing the end of their mortgage term and have significant equity in them. This is why more debtors are choosing to file bankruptcy after exhausting all of their options when trying to negotiate better repayment terms during their financially trying times. The recent bankruptcy figures say it all, as of March 31, personal bankruptcy filings rose 28 percent to nearly 1.5 million bankruptcy filings and that number is expected to increase as many more debtors turn to bankruptcy to save their assets and survive this recession.
