Chapter 13: catch up on missed mortgage payments over time
11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(5)
In plain words
In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, a plan can let you catch up on missed mortgage payments over a reasonable time (often 3 to 5 years) while you keep paying the regular monthly payment. For your main home, you can use this cure until the home is sold at a foreclosure sale held under state law.
Who is protected
Individuals with regular income who qualify for Chapter 13 and have a mortgage in default.
When it applies
- Only after a notice of default or once a sale date is set.
- Only if the home is your primary residence.
- The cure right for your main home ends once the home is sold at a foreclosure sale conducted under state law.
- You need enough regular income to pay the plan and your ongoing mortgage payment.
What you can do
Learn how Chapter 13 works
Read the chapter guide and check readiness questions before meeting a lawyer.
Open the toolPrepare questions for a bankruptcy lawyer
Use the consultation checklist to gather your debts, income, and sale dates before you meet a lawyer.
Open the tool
Honest limits
- You generally cannot reduce the balance or change the terms of a mortgage on your main home that is secured only by that home (Nobelman).
- If you miss plan or mortgage payments, the case can be dismissed and foreclosure can resume.
- The right to cure ends at the foreclosure sale; state law decides when the sale is complete.
- Bankruptcy information here is education only. Whether and how to file is a legal decision — talk to a bankruptcy attorney or legal aid office. Many offer free consultations.
- This is general legal information, not legal advice, and it does not promise any result. A HUD-approved housing counselor or a lawyer can look at your facts.
The law
- Federal lawChapter 13 — cure and maintain
11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(5)
Exact part: (b)(5)
What it says: A plan may cure a default within a reasonable time while keeping up current payments on a long-term debt such as a mortgage.
Read the official texthttps://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title11-section1322&num=0&edition=prelim - Federal lawChapter 13 — cure until foreclosure sale
11 U.S.C. § 1322(c)(1)
Exact part: (c)(1)
What it says: A default on the principal residence may be cured until the residence is sold at a foreclosure sale conducted under nonbankruptcy law.
Read the official texthttps://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title11-section1322&num=0&edition=prelim - Federal lawChapter 13 — no modification of a home-only mortgage
11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(2)
Exact part: (b)(2)
What it says: A plan generally may not change the terms of a claim secured only by the debtor's principal residence.
Read the official texthttps://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title11-section1322&num=0&edition=prelim - Federal lawBankruptcy petition preparers may not give legal advice
11 U.S.C. § 110(e)(2)
Exact part: (e)(2)
What it says: Non-lawyer bankruptcy petition preparers may not advise a debtor whether to file or which chapter to use.
Read the official texthttps://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title11-section110&num=0&edition=prelim
Court cases
- Homeowner lostCited for this rightNobelman v. American Savings Bank
Nobelman v. Am. Sav. Bank, 508 U.S. 324 (1993)
a Chapter 13 debtor may not reduce a mortgage secured only by the principal residence to the fair market value of the home
- Homeowner wonCited for this rightTill v. SCS Credit Corp.
Till v. SCS Credit Corp., 541 U.S. 465 (2004)
secured claims paid through a Chapter 13 plan may carry a prime-plus formula interest rate rather than the contract rate
- Homeowner wonSame topicBartee v. Tara Colony Homeowners Ass'n
Bartee v. Tara Colony Homeowners Ass'n (In re Bartee), 212 F.3d 277 (5th Cir. 2000)
Chapter 13's anti-modification rule does not protect a junior lienholder whose lien is not supported by any value in the debtor's home
- Homeowner lostSame topicBoren v. U.S. National Bank Ass'n
Boren v. U.S. Nat'l Bank Ass'n, 807 F.3d 99 (5th Cir. 2015)
a lender may abandon a prior acceleration by giving notice that it seeks less than the full accelerated balance, which restarts the four-year limitations period
- Homeowner lostSame topicMartins v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, L.P.
Martins v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, L.P., 722 F.3d 249 (5th Cir. 2013)
a mortgage servicer acting for a properly assigned mortgagee may foreclose in Texas without possessing the original note, and an oral promise to modify a large loan is not enforceable
- Partial winSame topicTaggart v. Lorenzen
Taggart v. Lorenzen, 587 U.S. 554 (2019)
a creditor may be held in civil contempt for violating a bankruptcy discharge order when there is no fair ground of doubt that the order barred its conduct
- Partial winSame topicReinagel v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co.
Reinagel v. Deutsche Bank Nat'l Tr. Co., 735 F.3d 220 (5th Cir. 2013)
a Texas borrower may challenge an assignment of the loan on any ground that renders it void, though not on grounds that make it merely voidable
- Partial winSame topicCulhane v. Aurora Loan Services
Culhane v. Aurora Loan Servs., 708 F.3d 282 (1st Cir. 2013)
a mortgagor may contest the validity of a MERS assignment to the foreclosing entity, although the MERS framework itself is lawful
Related rights
The automatic stay: filing bankruptcy pauses most collection
11 U.S.C. § 362(a)
When a bankruptcy case is filed, an "automatic stay" goes into effect right away. It generally stops lawsuits, foreclosure steps, and other collection against you and your property, without anyone needing to ask a judge. Creditors who knowingly violate it can owe damages.
Read this rightProtect equity in your home with a bankruptcy exemption
11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(1)–(3)
In bankruptcy, you can keep ("exempt") certain property from creditors. For your home, the federal exemption protects equity up to a set dollar amount, but many states make you use the state's own list instead. Some state homestead exemptions are much larger than the federal one; some are smaller.
Read this rightThe right to be heard in court, and to speak for yourself
U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1Due Process Clause
Due process means that before the government, through a court, takes your property, you must get a meaningful chance to be heard. In federal court, you have a legal right to present your own case without a lawyer. Most state courts also let people represent themselves, under state rules.
Read this rightThe right to real notice before the government takes or sells your home
U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1Due Process Clause
Before a state or county sells your property — for example at a tax sale, or through a court foreclosure — the Constitution requires notice that is reasonably likely to actually reach you. If the government knows your address, publishing a notice in the newspaper is not enough. If a mailed notice comes back unclaimed, the government must take extra reasonable steps to reach you, if it practicably can.
Read this rightAfter a discharge, creditors cannot collect the wiped-out debt from you
11 U.S.C. § 524(a)(2)
A bankruptcy discharge wipes out your personal liability for most debts in the case. After that, the law forbids creditors from suing, calling or otherwise trying to collect a discharged debt from you personally. A court can hold a creditor in contempt if there was no fair doubt that its conduct was barred.
Read this rightNo lies or misleading claims by debt collectors
15 U.S.C. § 1692e
A debt collector may not lie or mislead you. It cannot misstate how much you owe, pretend to be a lawyer or government official, or threaten something it cannot legally do or does not intend to do. It also cannot report credit information it knows is false, or fail to say a debt is disputed.
Read this right