I’m in Texas, so other Texans opinions would help. I filed for bankruptcy almost a year ago and have been doing great making payments, but the mortgage company has decided to throw their hat in and even though payments were being made the trustee and judge saw fit to triple the amount I was already paying. I hear a lot of people filing for Chapter 7, but I haven’t heard of anyone finishing a Chapter 13. I have four more years on this and would be encouraged if anyone has a success story about finishing their Chapter 13 payments for the full term. I would appreciate if cynics kept their snide comments to themselves.

We bought a house by land contract 2 years ago. We have never missed a payment and the mortgage is, as of now, paid up to date. The guy we purchased from (the guy who still holds a mortgage on the property) was a small business owner and his business went under. Now, he is filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy because of his business losses, but this only allows him to protect the house he personally lives in, despite the fact the mortgage on this property is good. His lawyer is telling us to just keep making the mortgage payments (directly to the mortgage company rather than thru him) and well be good because it’s not in default. The mortgage is thru GMAC, who we hear are not fun to work with. Are we going lose the house? Should we stop making payments? Scared sh*tless right now, we have three children, have invested a lot of money into the house on renovations (roughly K), and we recieved the K Home Buyers Tax Credit when we signed the contract. Feel like we’re in deep. HELP!!!

Self employed, I purchased a house for 90K in 1989. The house has been refinanced several time over the years and was last refinanced in 2008 for 270K. Shortly thereafter I was diagnosed with cancer and could not work for 6 months. During this period I could not pay the house payment and had to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy after I returned to work. Originally, the house was included in the filing, but was removed to do a HAMP modification with the lender (Arora Loan Services). Entered the trial trial period and was told to pay 0 for the first month. Over the course of several months the payment went up to 0 monthly. After a few months I called the mortgage company to check on the status and was informed that the HAMP modification was denied due to incomplete information on the application. I also receive a notice of foreclosure auction scheduled for mid March.

We attempted to redo the HAMP modification and was told that we could not do it. Then after talking with several people at the lender’s office we were told that it could be done if we attached a letter of reconsideration to it. I prepared the application only to learn that it could not be redone. Now the representative at Arora has advised me to do what he called a traditional loan modification.

This seems odd as with the Chapter 13 filing and the denial of the HAMP modification, it doesn’t feel right that I would qualify for a Traditional Modification Plan. Am I wasting my time? What should I do?

Here is the scenario: Mortgage payments are behind and to prevent foreclosure he filled for chapter 13. He missed two payments and now the mortgage company is requesting removal of the automatic stay to continue to foreclose. What are the options for this person in terms of renting an apartment or house…

I am going to give the information as best as I can. Hopefully someone can help and hopefully there’s even something that can be done.

Several months ago we were told we were going to be foreclosed (,000 or so behind on a ~00 a month mortgage). We live somewhat paycheck to paycheck with no money saved. Anyway, we filed Chapter 13 to try and protect the home. Two months after going through the steps to set up the Ch13, we went to court to face the trustee and creditors, and it was then the trustee said we owed two months worth of payments on the Ch13 (roughly 0 a month), within two weeks.

At this time it was either pay the mortgage or pay the 0 to the court. The court was paid and now, a month or two from then we got a letter from our lawyer stating that the mortgage company has been removed from the Ch13 terms due to us missing the mortgage payment. Now they are trying to continue with the foreclosure.

Is there ANYTHING possible to try and prevent the foreclosure?
Thanks

This year has been extraordinarily difficult and I’ve had to use the money that I was setting aside for property taxes which are due in Jan and Feb. They give you till the end of Feb to pay without penalties. Credit cards and title loans aren’t an option, those have already been tapped this year as has the Roth which was depleted anyways because of previous problems years ago. About the best I could hope for would be to borrow against my 403b but again due to serious problems a few years ago (including being told I would be dead within two to five years by Doctors), I never amassed anything significant there and actually nearly lost track of having it. It would only be enough for maybe half of the property taxes. There isn’t any equity in the home that can be drawn on, I’ve only had it for a year and aside from antique computers, I have nothing to sell. There’s a benefits retirement program but because I had a backup job that reactivated the program when I lost my job in April, I can’t touch that money at all unless I quit my job. Also that money may have gone into the State lost funds thing because I lost track of a lot when I was really sick a few years ago. So now with maybe four months max to save up for property taxes, which means it isn’t going to happen, what’s going to happen when I can’t pay the full bill by the end of Feb? Should I file for forebearance from the mortgage company? The Obama MHA would require an escrow for the taxes to be established, if I can’t save up enough for that by the end of Feb, how could I establish an escrow for that amount? Should I let bills go into arrears to save up for the taxes? Should I just declare chapter 13 bankruptcy?
I should probably add that I’ve lost a third of my income. I had a backup job already arranged when I lost my job in April but it was at two thirds the pay with better benefits. My girlfriend also had legal problems that I sorted out for her but that has left me with a budget that doesn’t balance. I’ll make it balance somehow, I have to. But loosing one third of my wages is loosing over k. I’m in a serious negative cash flow situation. I should be able to pick up some contract work, that should bring in up to 20% more cash but that’s not a certainty. Can’t ask family, sister had a stroke and is about to declare bankruptcy if the hotel folds. Probably need a DMP to make budget work.

I filed a Chapter 13 in 2007 due to multiple problems with my mortgage company. Last fall, my house burned down and the insurance covered the loss. We rebuilt in the same place and I used a part of the contents coverage money to pay off my Chapter 13 early. I had a small personal loan that was included in the BK (because everything has to be included, even good accounts) and the trustee sent them a lump sum payment of the loan balance principal plus interest (a lower rate than my loan was written with). The loaning party used the money to pay off accrued and what they considered past due interest and late fees and left me with nearly all the principal balance still "due" and began dunning me for payments. Am I obligated to continue making these payments since they already got enough money from me to pay off the principal plus a reduced interest rate? I cannot ask an attorney due to major non performance issues with the attorney who filed my BK.

I am working with a company to refinance my mortgage into a much lower fixed interest rate. I have a lender who has approved my loan, but when I called my bankruptcy attroney to get some papers, his assistant told me have a "36 month commitment period" an I can’t refinance my house to pay off the bankruptcy for 36 months (I have been in the chapter 13 for 13 months with no late or missed payments). Is there any way around this? The guy I’m working with at the mortgage company said he has refinanced dozens of people out of chapter 13’s and has never heard of this.

This year we went under on our home based business! We filed chapter 13 on September 15 2010! We filed on our credit cards and other non secured debt, but left our 1st and 2nd mortgages off! What I mean by off is that we would be paying directly to the lender and not through the trustee off the court! I thought that we were current with our first mortgage; I knew that we had gotten behind on the 2nd but caught up before filing chapter 13! To make a long story short I didn’t find out until I went online and checked our past bank statements that we were behind on the first mortgage! We are still current on the 2nd but the first is looking at foreclosure! We did receive mortgage modification forms sent to us by the mortgage company the other day! We didn’t ask for them they just them to us! My question is if the mortgage company decides to foreclose will this be grounds to have our chapter 13 dismissed?
@ Real, I have ask my lawyer and he didn’t think that this could be an issue! But I would just like some other knowledgeable people’s opinion on this!

I live in Illinois and have been in Chapter 13 bankruptcy for over a year.
Cheryl G. – They said today this would be filed on 12-31-09. If I were to bring my account current before then, would they still be able to follow through?

I lost my job, that is how I got behind. I am now getting back on my feet and will be able to pay on time each month starting in January. The mortgage company was very mute when I asked these questions today.
Frak 1A12- I haven’t received the document, nor has it been filed yet, that was my reasoning for asking.

my mortgage company sent me a notice in Dec. of 2005 saying we were two payments ahead even though we are in a chapter 13 bankruptcy. I questioned this and they sent me a payment history showing we were ahead two payments on our post petition payments. We indeed skipped the next two payments. Then almost 2 years later we get a notice that we are behind and they are going to start foreclosure. They discovered that those "extra" payments were suppossed to go on pre-petition arearages, not post-petition payments, and moved them, making our payments past due. They stopped taking our payments and even returned two payments we had already sent. We have arranged a repayment schedule with them but now the back payments and attorneys fees are about ,000. ! Not to mention that our credit and payment history is screwed up again! Is there anything we can do about THEIR screw up? At least something to help repair our credit?

My ex lives in Minnesota, where we bought a house. When we divorced, the papers awarded him the house and mortgage. We had a good faith agreement that he would refinance to take my name off the loan. He did not and things have gotten pretty bad for him and he is filing for bankruptcy.

My name is still on the lien although the paperwork specifies that it is his responsibility to pay and refinance the loan. My concern is that the mortgage company will try to collect money from me even though I don’t live in the house and can’t make the payments. I also live in California now, so I’m not sure how (or if) that affects anything.

Any help or advice on how to protect myself and what to expect would be greatly appreciated!

I’ve been in a chapter 13 plan for close to 3 years in my 36 month plan. My arrears to my mortgage company are a top priority to receive payments from me but the trustee has made a huge mistake and my arrears haven’t seen a dime in three years but has now corrected the problem. (the correction: my arrears will start seeing payments on a regular basis for the remainder of my extended 2 years.) But, my attorney wants my plan to be extended for two more years because of the mistake. Do I have to just lay down and except this because of the trustees mistake or is there anything leagally I can do as far as having my arrears caught up some kind of way because of the three years of non-payment towards them by my trustees?

I have gotten myself in a huge mess with a variable interest rate mortgage, it was my fault as I signed all the papers and I accept that. I am currently in foreclosure with my mortgage company. I have my house on the market and have a contract wit an approved buyer. I am jumping the gun a bit but what IF the buyer wiggles out somehow and does not buy my house. My question is if I file chapter 13 bankruptcy will that stop foreclosure proceedings and can I still sell my house to someone else while in chapter13? Also when is the chapter 13 "official" enough to stop the forecloure? I am having no luck dealing with this crappy mortgage company so reasoning with them has not been productive. Please don’t judge me I know it is my own stupidity that got me in this jam in the first place. I just refuse to go down without trying everything in my power to avoid being out on the street. Thanks in advance for any good answers.

My husband and I got behind in our mortgage due to our heating system going out and subsequent outrageous heating bills. Shortly there after I lost my job and we fell further and further behind. We have tried a short sale and the market is just too bad. The mortgage company recognized our short sale attempt and has now offered us a deed in lieu of foreclosure. I have done a little bit of research online and I know that the effects are similar to those of a short sale, but i was wondering how long the hit will stay on our credit? How long will it be before we are in good shape to buy a home? Since we are in so much debt from trying to keep up with the mortgage, would it be better to file bankruptcy?

We are in Adair county Missouri and it has been 2+ years since a new mortgage company bought out our mortgage and still no change on the deed. We are struggling to pay the payment, but they refuse to work with us on lowering it since my husband is unemployed at the moment and they don’t consider unemployment income, but they will take every dime of it every month for the payment. My husband read somewhere online where a mortgage company hadn’t filed the proper paperwork after purchasing a mortgage and didn’t have the original paperwork for the loan and the woman was able to file bankruptcy against her house. She kept the house and the bank got nothing for it since their paperwork wasn’t in order. Is this possible?
I don’t believe everything that I read online because most of it is not true, but my husband wanted to believe that it was possible to file bankruptcy on the house and keep it. I told him I would ask on here and get us some answers from people who would know. Thank you everyone who answered for helping to clear up this matter. We really appreciate it.

I am considering filing chapter 7 bankruptcy. I have 3 major credit cards, all of which have been charged off and added up have a balance of roughly 20k with interest and attorney fees. I also have some other random bills which have gone to collection: cell phone, utility bills, medical bills, etc, that add up to about 3k. I also owe about 10k in back taxes to the IRS, which I’m not sure if this could be included in the bankruptcy? I have made some mistakes in the past, living beyond my means and am much more educated and mature now and would like to get my life and credit built back up.

1. Is bankruptcy a good idea for me?
2. Can taxes be included in a bankruptcy?
3. How long does it take to get my credit built up to say a 650-700 credit score after a BK and are banks willing to give you a loan if they see you have a bankruptcy, even if your credit score is good now?

I worked for a mortgage company in 2003 and we would give someone a loan the next day after a BK discharge. I know things have changed but any insight in today’s credit market and how a BK is viewed by creditors in 2009 would be very helpful. Thanks

Okay, here is the deal. My husband and I filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy in August (we included our mortgage) Well, we had a baby a week after filing bankruptcy and i was out of work for 3 months and also when we filed bankruptcy my husband was unemployed. So needless to say we have fallen behind on our mortgage AGAIN! We owe for October, November and December……
I am back at work and my husband has since gotten a full time job, but we are unable to make all 3 payments at once…Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do? Will we lose our home? I called my attorney, and they have yet to call me back. I called the mortgage company and offered 1 payment and they told me to contact the attorney..Any help would be appreciated!

PLEASE HELP!

My parents filed CH 7 in 2005. They included their property in this bankruptcy and left the property shortly after they filed because their full intent was to have the property discharged in the proceedings.

The bankruptcy was discharged in 2007. My parents continue to receive notices from their mortgage company, Ocwen, to collect on the loan. they have been sought after by the county and city for taxes and property maintenance. They have not understood why, because they thought that the property was discharged in the bankruptcy. AND their attorney continually told them that they should just ignore the letters and demands (she even told me this..)

I was told that they are having a sheriff sale for the foreclosure soon on this property. They have been brought to court by the city to collect on property maintenance (the case was dismissed due to the bankruptcy). I finally got a hold of the bankruptcy papers on this case. Through the petition the house was to be surrendered, but the lender filed a Motion and was granted a relief from stay and abandonment. The attorney didn’t contest this (and then failed to tell my parents this- which would have explained why they continued to get harassed by the lender and now subsequent foreclosure 3 YEARS LATER!).

My question is: was the debt/house/mortgage amount in the original petition discharged when the bankruptcy was discharged? There were no additional liens on the property, only the original loan (that was in the claim). I’ve been reading things online but I can’t get this answer clearly enough to know. I know that the lender got relief from the stay and with that they could attempt to rid themselves of the property (albeit 3 years later..), but is the original debt and property no longer the responsibility of my parents? what is their liability, if any? Are any expenses still remaining that are associated with the property no longer any responsibility to my parents because of the discharge?

Help!! (and thanks!!)
ok, this is probably the same question- but simply put.. because the relief of stay and abanodment was granted, does that mean that it removed the house from the bankruptcy discharge? which would be awful!!
I love how this is a story about predatory lending you still have jerks trying to make some easy money. go rot someplace!
Thanks for all of you with real answers!

We bought a house a couple years ago in Texas. We live in this house. We are self employed and the economy had hit us pretty hard. We have not made a house payment in five months. Money is starting to come in again and we can now afford the 00 a month, but we can not afford the back debt.

We called our mortgage company (Suntrust) and they told us we had to talk to a loss mitigation counselor. We received a letter stating the house will be sold on January 7th. The loss mitigation people are telling us we have to wait for them to call us before they can help. They say it takes up to 30 days to receive a phone call. Well, if we wait for them to call, the house will already be sold at auction. What can we do? They will not talk to us at all. We do have a HUD backed loan. We have called Hope Now and that did not seem to help. HUD has a wealth of information online about reinstatement, forbearance, and repayment plan options. We can not contact anyone to help us try to qualify for these options.

If we can not reach loss mitigation, what are our other options? We received a couple letters from lawyers regarding bankruptcy. The letters mention chapter seven and eleven. If we can save our house with bankruptcy, what is the best way? Any ideas on how to get loss mitigation to grant us some extra time so we can work for them? Thank you for all your help.