You knew you were behind on your mortgage, but you didn't ignore the problem. You called the mortgage company, explained what happened, and were told to submit an application for a loan modification or another loss-mitigation option. So you did.

Then they asked for documents: bank statements, pay stubs, tax returns, a hardship letter. Maybe even documents you were certain you had already sent. You submitted them, and when someone told you something was missing, you sent it again.

Maybe the first application didn't result in a modification, so you submitted another one. You stayed in contact with the mortgage company, opened the mail, and responded to requests. You did what homeowners are repeatedly told to do when they fall behind: work with your mortgage company.

And you kept hoping there would be a solution. Maybe the loan would be modified. Maybe there would be another loss-mitigation option. Maybe your new job would come through before things went any further.

Meanwhile, time kept passing, the mortgage arrears kept growing, and despite everything you were doing, there was still no resolution.

Then one day you opened another letter. This one was different. It gave you an actual foreclosure sale date.

Next week.

After months of trying to work something out, you are suddenly looking at a date on the calendar when your home may be sold. And you think: How did we get here? I did everything they told me to do.

That sense of panic—and frankly, helplessness—is understandable. But a scheduled foreclosure sale does not necessarily mean it is too late. It does mean the conversation has changed, and now time matters.

First, Find Out Exactly Where You Are

Once a foreclosure sale has been scheduled, we no longer have the luxury of spending several months exploring every possible solution.

We need to know exactly where you are in the foreclosure process, when the sale is scheduled, how much you owe, what happened with your loss-mitigation applications, what your income looks like now, and what you are trying to accomplish.

And there is one question we still have to answer: Can you afford the house going forward?

If your income has recovered and you can comfortably make your regular mortgage payment again, we may have a problem that can be solved. If your income has permanently declined and you cannot afford the regular mortgage payment, stopping next week's foreclosure sale does not by itself solve the larger problem.

Stopping the sale gives us time. The question is what we can accomplish with that time.

This Is Where Chapter 13 May Become Important

For the right homeowner, Chapter 13 bankruptcy can be a powerful tool. Filing a bankruptcy case generally triggers the federal automatic stay, which can stop a foreclosure sale that has not already occurred while the stay remains in effect.

But stopping the sale is not the same thing as solving the problem.

If your income has recovered and you can afford your mortgage going forward, but you cannot immediately pay the arrears that accumulated while you were struggling, Chapter 13 may provide a way to address those arrears over time through a court-supervised repayment plan.

If the mortgage itself is no longer affordable, however, Chapter 13 does not magically make the house affordable. That may require a different strategy.

So the question should never be simply: Can bankruptcy stop the foreclosure sale?

The better question is: What will bankruptcy allow us to accomplish after the sale is stopped?

Sometimes Stopping the Sale Is About Protecting Your Equity

There is another question we need to ask: What are we protecting by stopping the sale?

Your home may contain a substantial portion of the wealth you have accumulated over your lifetime. If you can afford the house going forward, protecting the home itself may be the objective.

But if your financial circumstances have permanently changed and keeping the house is no longer realistic, stopping the foreclosure may still be extremely valuable because it may give you time to protect your equity and maintain some control over what happens next.

An orderly sale may allow you to market the property, preserve more of the equity you have spent years building, choose when and how you move, and determine what you are going to do next.

The goal may have changed from saving the house to protecting the wealth you built in the house. That is still planning.

What will bankruptcy allow us to accomplish after the sale is stopped?

What are we protecting by stopping the sale?

Protect what you have built. And, whenever possible, maintain control over what happens next.