Bankruptcy

When you hand over your assets to a federal court because you can' t pay your debts, and are no longer held responsible for paying off your creditors

You can either enter bankruptcy voluntarily, or you can be forced to petition for bankruptcy after your creditors bring you to court to try and collect on their money. In general, the three main types of bankruptcies are:
(1) Chapter 7, which wipes out most of your debt -- taxes, alimony and student loans are often exceptions - and protects you from your creditors

(2) Chapter 13, which lets you keep your assets if the court approves your plan to repay your creditors

(3) Chapter 11, typically for a company, which needs court approval on its plan to reorganize its finances and repay creditors.

Bankruptcies stay on your credit report for 10 years and are automatically erased after this time.

Stop my foreclosure

A loan with a fixed interest rate