Walk away after BK?

[jillsthings]

I've been reading other posts and just want to get this clarified for myself. We filed BK back in 2004. We were supposed to have signed a reaffirmation for our house, but the mortgage company says we never did. During the BK our lawyer told us not to worry about paying our mortgage as they would just tack on whatever we owed at the end. We didn't know any better, and we went through foreclosure proceedings. We were able to get payment arrangements and keep the house and have been current ever since.

We hate our house and want to move. It's a two bedroom and we have three kids, not ideal. We started looking recently and wondered if we found a house we liked and we were able to get approved for a mortgage, could we still just walk away without it hurting our credit since it's been almost 6 years since we filed BK? Thanks!

[jillsthings]

Also, would there be any repercussions for us obtaining a new mortgage and letting this one go? We don't plan to stop making payments on this house until we start the process with a new one, just to be safe. :-) I am a huge worrier, and I fear that if we stopped paying on this house, they would foreclose within a few weeks and only give us 30 days to hurry up and find a house and move, lol. We have really, really bad luck. :-)

So basically, say we found a house and started the paperwork for a new mortgage next month and then stopped paying for this house shortly before the closing to give us plenty of time to get all settled in without worry of losing this house before moving in the new one. What could go wrong?

[liverichly]

You'd need to wait at least 3 years since that foreclosure action was cured, it appears you caught yourself back up so when did the mortgage stop reporting 90 & 120 days late on your credit? If it was over 3 years ago, then you would be eligible to obtain new financing with an FHA mortgage.

When you qualify for a new mortgage while owning a home, you either need to sell your home prior to or simultaneously with obtaining the new mortgage (as in same day), or you need to qualify for both mortgage payments. Can you qualify for & afford both mortgage payments?

[jillsthings]

Our mortgage hasn't been reported on our credit report since the bankruptcy in 2004. Looking at our credit report, it doesn't even show a mortgage on there at all. When we look at our credit score, it tells us that our credit score would be higher if we had a mortgage on our credit report. Go figure.

So while our name is still on the lean of this house, and we still make the payments every month, according to our credit report we are basically just renting.