The Short Answer
Yes — if you want to keep your home, you must continue making mortgage payments during bankruptcy. In Chapter 7, you need to be current at the time of filing and stay current throughout the process. In Chapter 13, if you're behind on your mortgage, those arrears get rolled into your repayment plan and the trustee pays the lender from your monthly plan payments — but you're still responsible for keeping payments flowing. Stop paying, and your lender can ask the court to lift the automatic stay and move forward with foreclosure.
Once you decide to file Bankruptcy, whether it is a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you will need to decide if you intend on keeping your home. If you qualify for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing and you wish to keep your home, you will need to be current with your mortgage payment(s) and your homeowners’ association dues at the time of filing. As per federal bankruptcy law, you must remain current throughout the duration of the bankruptcy; this includes first, second, third mortgages attached to the home, as well as, your homeowner’s association dues. If you fail to keep current with your mortgage payment(s) or your homeowners’ association dues, the “relief from stay” can and most likely will be lifted and the mortgage company or the homeowner’s association may initiate foreclosure proceedings on the home.
In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing, you will make monthly payments to the Trustee’s office. The Trustee will then distribute those funds to your creditors. The creditor payments are according to priority deemed by the Bankruptcy Court. Your mortgage lender is almost always one of the creditors at the top of the list. Therefore, you will not be making direct payment to your mortgage lender if you are behind on payments. This payment will be included in your Chapter 13 payment plan and the Trustee’s office will make the mortgage payment from the funds you send each month. An exception would be your homeowners’ association dues, which you will continue to make payment directly to the homeowners’ association. Also, in some districts if you are current on your mortgage payment the Trustee will allow you to make direct mortgage payments to the mortgage company.
Regardless of which type of bankruptcy you plan to file, if you want to keep your house you will need to continue to make your mortgage payments and stay current on your payments.
Key Takeaways
- In Chapter 7, you must be current on your mortgage at the time of filing and stay current for the entire duration of the case.
- If you fall behind on mortgage payments during bankruptcy, your lender can seek relief from the automatic stay and begin foreclosure proceedings.
- In Chapter 13, mortgage arrears are typically paid through your plan by the trustee, but ongoing post-filing mortgage obligations must still be met.
- Homeowners' association dues are generally paid directly by you — not through the Chapter 13 trustee — even while in bankruptcy.
- In some districts, if you are current on your mortgage when you file Chapter 13, the trustee may allow you to continue making direct payments to your lender.
- Keeping your home in bankruptcy is possible, but it requires consistent, on-time payments — there is no pause just because you filed.
Attorney Insight
The mistake I see most often is people assuming bankruptcy gives them a free pass on the mortgage — like the whole debt world just pauses. It doesn't. Filing triggers the automatic stay, which halts most collection actions, but your mortgage obligation keeps running. In nearly 30 years of practice, some of the most heartbreaking cases I've handled are clients who made it through their bankruptcy successfully but lost their home anyway because they stopped making payments during the case, thinking they were protected. If keeping your house is the goal, the mortgage has to stay current — full stop.
