I'm looking for info regarding refinancing of mortgage after chapter 13 discharge

[wooisme]

We have a conventional loan with Bank of America a first and second mortgage. These payments were NOT included in the plan and I made them myself. We have never ever been late in the entire time we lived here and it's going on 19 years. our first is an 8.6 and our second is a 12.5 and we have about $105,000 in equity ...our bankruptcy chapter 13 payments have all been made on time all of the 5 years we have been in it. we are just waiting for the discharge papers to come through now but i'm trying to plan ahead and i need to know what my recourses are and if anyone has any info on this or where I should look to get it.

thanks

[Flamingo]

First know that just because you made your plan payments outside of your Plan, your mortgages were still part of your Chapter 13 and included in your filing. We refinanced during our Plan to pay off our Plan (could at that time as we filed prior to the new bankruptcy law enacted in 10/05) and to make roof/windows repairs/replacement that could not have waited if we finished out another year of our Plan. Our attorney gave us a good broker name. We tried on our own to look into refinancing also and due to the BK ran into a lot of dead ends. Get a broker referral from your attorney (they go through this all the time) as you will need a broker who works with folks with BK on their records. You will more than likely have to apply for a FHA loan. You will also be subject to PMI due to your BK for the first five years of your mortgage (even though you have a lot of equity) which will increase your monthly mortgage payment quite a bit. We refinanced for $116,000 and our PMI monthly payment was just under $50 per month. Nothing can remove that unless one refinances again. It will be taken off at the end of five years. That, on top of principle, interest and insurance, can really up one's mortgage payment.

There will be other fees, etc. involved as you are considered high risk. I suggest working closely with a BK experienced broker, examine papers carefully before signing (it never hurts to have an attorney review any mortgage papers before signing) and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Best of luck to you.