Mortgage payment increased

[Vikingsmom]

I was behind in my property taxes so I included them in my chapter 13 plan and I have been making payments on them for 2 years. My lender decided to pay those back taxes behind my back (which I guess is legal) and now want to up my mortgage payment from $718 to $2048 (monthly payment plus escrow balance of property taxes paid) the increase is supposed to start in Nov but my lawyer said they are supposed to notify the court of any increases in payment within 45 days and they have not done that yet. Can they just up my payment without informing the courts?

[LadyInTheRed]

I think your attorney already answered that question. So, your next question to your attorney should be: "What can we do about this?"

[Vikingsmom]

I did ask that and he said he's going to see what he can do. In the meantime I wanted to ask here and see if anyone had any insight. Can they say I'm late if I don't pay that whole payment even though they never sent in a request to the court?

[dmc-2008]

Thats a crazy increase! Don't know the answer, but wish you well'

[despritfreya]

1. How much are your taxes on an annual basis?
2. How much in property taxes did you owe when you filed bk?
3. How much of what was owed has been paid through the Plan (including interest)?
4. What is the statutory interest rate for delinquent property taxes?
5. Prior to filing bk did the mortgage payment include impounding for taxes? If "no", have you been paying the post petition property taxes as they come due?

I am assuming the property tax claim was a pre petition debt and that all post petition property taxes have been paid.

If the lender advanced payment either before or after the case was filed, the argument is that such advance is nothing more than an addition to the lender's proof of claim as it was for a pre petition obligation (regardless of when it was paid). Lender should amend its claim and you should modify the Plan to switch who gets the $$ earmarked for the pre petition property taxes. Assuming the argument is valid (I have no reason to believe it is not as this is the way I have handled the issue in the past - granted with the lender's full agreement) there should be no problem. Now, if you fell post petition behind in those taxes - such is an entirely different story.

Des.

[out4good3]

this actually happened to me. At the end of year three of my filing, my mortgage company sent a letter to me threatening to do this. Fortunately, I'd saved enough money to pay the arreages. I called my lawyer and he told me that that was an acceptable practice and that he was surprised it haven't happened earlier.

The interesting thing about it was that the trustee continued to pay directly to the taxing authorities. About 6 weeks later, I got cut checks for all of the overpayments.

Nice......