Indiana Mortgage Defaults Soar in Gibson County

Seven months into the year, Gibson County sheriff sales on foreclosed properties are moving at a pace to set a new record.

Last week, the Gibson County Sheriff’s Dept. advertised its 99th sheriff sale this year, compared to 120 at year’s end in 2006, which topped a previous all-time-high 105 sales.

Chief Deputy Sheriff George Ballard said sheriff sales are the result of a court ordered bank foreclosure for the non-payment of standard monthly mortgages.

The sales are scheduled once each month (usually the third Thursday of the month), are held in the Gibson County Sheriff’s Dept. main office.

The sales are separate from “tax sales,” which are held twice a year by the Treasurer’s Office for non-payment of Indiana real estate taxes.

The 99th sale notice came Friday, shortly after a report that Indiana bankruptcy filings have spiked nearly 70 percent in the first six months of the year. Experts said a law change kept 2006 bankruptcy totals artificially low.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of Indiana, which covers the state south of Kokomo, saw a 68 percent increase in filings, at 7,694 petitions through the end of June, compared to 4,570 filings recorded last year.

Last years figures may have been low, experts say, because Indiana mortgage holders who would have filed in early 2006 instead rushed to file in 2005 while bankruptcy-lenient rules were still in place.

Before the law changed in October 2005, the number of filings in the Southern District averaged 14,775 from Jan. 1-June 7 of that year.

“The changes in the law have not significantly reduced the number of Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings,” said Gary Hostetler, bankruptcy attorney with the Indianapolis firm Hostetler & Kowalik, P.C. “In 2008 we will go back to the same basic levels that we were at prior to the law.

Foreclosures, unexpected medical bills and credit cards are big culprits behind the bankruptcy numbers.

“People borrow equity on their house because of credit card debt, then can’t afford two mortgages and the credit-card bills,” said Indianapolis lawyer Andrew Klopchin.

Adjustable rate mortgages compound the problem.

Interest rates a few years ago were at their lowest point in 40 years and have since risen, increasing the monthly payments on adjustable-rate mortgages.

“That’s why we’re seeing all the foreclosures that we’re seeing now,” said Hostetler.