One of the big benefits of declaring personal bankruptcy is this: from the moment your Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy is filed with the court, foreclosure actions against you must stop. The foreclosure can be held off while you catch up the payments in a Chapter 13. However, you must be able to show the court that you CAN make the regular payments from now on, plus an amount to catch up what you are behind to make it work. If you can not make the payments the lender will get relief from the bankruptcy fairly quickly.