Wow....a whole year after Bankruptcy

[HOMEBODY]

I cant believe how great my life is going right now. I was discharged a year ago and today I have been able to establish credit already. I have a Capital One for $700, no annual fees and no interest for the first 6 months. I have a Barclays card for $1300 and no annual fees. Both are non-secure..What more can I ask for. The principal on my 1st mortgage on my house was reduced by $110,000.00, I dont know if that was a mistake or what but since the initial filing of of the BK (7/2010) and me asking for modification for over a year, they have been sending me a statement for $64,000.00 and not the $186,000 I owed them. The principal is going down by $880 each month. That is insane, but I am not going to question that.

I can pay my mortgage with no problem. I can now save for my retirement and I have taken 2 trips abroad on vacation since the BK. My life was totally controlled by my creditors. I was paying about $1000 or more in credit card payments each month.

I do keep a budget and I make sure that I pay my small credit balances each month. I will never ever pay credit card companies any interest or get my balances out of control. I have learned my lesson well.

Life is good!!

[keepsmiling]

I'd love to say congrats, BUT....I hope you aren't in for a big surprise with your mortgage. This just doesn't sound right.
You would KNOW if the mod happened, and rarely is principal reduced. Better save up in case they hit you up for back payments.

[HOMEBODY]

I know...but hey...they are reducing principal as I go. I stll pay the same payment as I go....we will find out when I pay off the $60,000 something I still owe.

[researchnerd]

Congrats! I'm about a year post-discharge too and my life is steadily improving. I agree that you may be in for a nasty surprise with your mortgage; it might be worth asking about it just to be sure. Now that you have a good budget you don't want to blow it with something you didn't prepare for.

[mountanddo]

You know what they say...if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. If it is a mistake you can be sure that the employee that made the mistake won't be paying for it, you will. The best advice I can give is to have a conversation with the bank NOW.

[jetsfan2010]

well congrats on your life post BK. I hope a year from now I can also share great success.

[JackBondLove]

What exact CapitalOne CC is that? I have the rewards card that charges $39/yr that I will close out unless I can get them to waive the fee.

[Flamingo]

I know...but hey...they are reducing principal as I go. I stll pay the same payment as I go....we will find out when I pay off the $60,000 something I still owe.

I think you'd better question your mortgage - a major change such as that if you don't know what is going on is going to toss your good fortunate right out the window if you don't know what is going on. Principal on first mortgages does not just disappear...if there was a modification, that missing amount is tacked on somewhere, Hiding your head in the sand and thinking this is a good thing is a big mistake. Your last sentence states you have learned your lesson well but if you don't know what is happening as to your mortgage, you haven't learned it all. Best of luck to you.

[tobee43]

it certainly does should unusual that your mortgage would be decreased approx 120k ? i know you see the principle going down, however, if there is some way to discreetly check this out without drawing too much attention, i would certainly look into it. as flamingo points out, you most certainly do not want any surprises in the end.

[IBroke]

That occurence with the mortgage is strange. Sounds like a balloon-payment to me..

[HOMEBODY]

JackBond...I dont know which Cap One is...when I got the offer I made sure it wasnt one with annual fees. Flamingo, I am paying the exact amount of payment as before so life is no different from before the $110,000 and now..just that they are reducing the principal by a lot of money now. What I am doing is saving as much money as I can now and once I have the $62,000 still owing on the 1st, I will call and offer to pay it off..Well, if it is mistake I am not worried about it. This is a rental and the tenants are actually paying the mortgage right now. At the present I am saving the money and if its a mistake on their part, then they will let me know.

What was strange was that just before that I got a letter from the bank telling me that they had found my information on one of the employee's computer at home and they were informing me of this for privacy issues. They said that they were going to give me free credit monitoring in case of identify theft and that the employee had been disciplined. So I am thinking maybe he made the changes. I am not calling the bank and clarifying this..I am going to let them figure it out. This is not affecting me in the least. In a year from now I am planning to take advantage of the real estate being so low and buy a little condo for my retirement, something I could afford in retirement.

[mountanddo]

Homeboy, you way of thinking just doesn't make sense and I predict you are going to have a big surprise waiting for you at the end of the rainbow and it won't be a pot of gold. If this is a mistake, and it sure sounds like it as banks just don't out of the goodness of their hearts dismiss $110,000 on a mortgage, you will have no one to blame but yourself.

You might be paying the same amount NOW but what is going to happen when they do find the mistake (and they will) and all of a sudden they want you to make up that payment? Banks just don't take a $186,000 home and give it to you for $64,000. Did you sign any modification paperwork? There must be something that needs to be signed when you apply for a home modification.

I haven't read any of your other posts to find out what you situation is but ignoring this is not smart. You sound like you are gonna do what you are gonna do though no matter what anyone says. Let's hope it doesn't come back to bite you.

[spidge]

This does sound a bit scary. Don't put your head in the sand and hope for the best. Please be pro-active and find out the details. Shoot, you may decide that a balloon payment at the end is OK, as long as it is in the far away future. This way you can simply refinance the house to pay for it if needed. I asked my mortgage company to defer a part of my balance but they gave me a killer rate instead. You may have a reduced rate for 5 years then it goes to hell again. Find out. It may or may not be all bad news. By all means if you do not understand make them explain it to you until their red in the face.

[Amy26]

On the off chance that they did forgive you 110k... I think the IRS has something to say about it. If it is "forgiven debt", then I believe you will have to count it as income. I do remember hearing something about Obama doing some kind of forgiveness thing so perhaps I could be wrong here...

I also believe that if they did truely mod your loan it wouldn't have just "disappeared". You would have got documentation and probably new loan documents... I guess you can continue what you're doing and hope for the best... but if it was me I would not be able to do that.