Need advice on my situation

[needhelpinnj]

Hello,

I'm considering filing for bankruptcy and wanted to know if anyone has had a similar situation.

I live in NJ and make $105k per year. In 2004, I bought a home and paid $475k for it. I made the mistake of putting no money down and financing everything through Countrywide (now Bank of America) and refinancing once through them. The payments are eating up 2/3rds of my take home pay as they are $3900 per month including two mortgages, property taxes, and insurance. I have cut out all frivolous items from my budget for many years. I have even canceled my landline, TV and internet service. My first mortgage has also an adjustable rate that readjusts every March based on the Libor index.

My home now is work about $400k. Over the years, I have tried to sell it three times. I did try a short sale and the bank rejected it. I tried a Deed In Lieu of foreclosure and they rejected that. I went to Naca and they submitted my information, but Bank of America would not even consider it since I have not missed a payment.

What really kills me is that the mortgage papers I signed actually had fradulent information as they said I made more money than I did. I've been scraping by for the past six years trying to keep up with the payments, but it's taking a toll on me emotionally. I want to give the house back. I have tried to rent it now at $800 below market value and cannot find a renter.

I am also 31 weeks pregnant and am having a baby in November. I am afraid that I am not going to be able to cover the costs of taking care of a baby plus the mortgage. Daycare alone costs $900 a month part-time, and my daughter would spend the other part-time with her father who works from home part-time.

My only other debt is my car. I have a 2009 Honda CRV on which I owe 10k in a loan that will last for 3-1/2 years. I have no credit card debt and my fico score is 830.

Obviously, filing for BK is the last thing that I want to do. However, I feel trapped in a mortgage and home that I do not want.

Has anyone out there had a similar experience or have any suggestions?

Thank you for reading my post!

Best,

Sally

[newbie2]

Many MANY people have filed for bankruptcy because they were "house poor" so to speak. Dump the house and get on with your life. Good luck to you and your family.

[Cristo]

You might want to try the modification route again. I got a mod with BofA, I used to be Countrywide too. I had to miss 3 payments in order to get them to give me a trial mod. Your credit score will take a hit but it sounds like it's going to one way or the other. The most important thing is to get yourself together financially and worry about your credit score later. If the mod does not come through you can always walk from the house later and file the bk. You could potentially live there payment free for quite a while. The mod will drag out the forclosure even longer. The way I look at it is if you are going to file Bk you might as well make it work to your advantage.

It's really too bad that they are giving you such a hard time. My personal thougt is that they see you with your high credit score and think you will do pretty much anything to keep it. Once you show them you don't care they usually come around. That's been my experience. I had a 740 before I started missing payments. You might want to check out the loansafe forum BofA group. They have contact information for escalating your case to the Office of the President at BofA. I went that route and it worked for me.

However, if you are really set on giving back the house then forclosure and bk may be the only way. I don't think you would need to file the bk unless they came after you for a deficiency balance on the difference between what you owe and what they sell it for. You do not necessarily need to file bk first.

See a lawyer now!! See several!! Since you are probably over median income you want to be sure you don't get caught in a CH 13 to payback the deficiency. So that may be the key.....get a good lawyer to go over all your options and do a means test for you with and without the mortgage payment to make sure you would qualify for a ch 7 and file whenever you need to get the 7. Large secured debts like your mortgage pretty much ensures you get a 7 instead of a 13. Your credit should bounce back pretty quickly since you do not have a lot of other debt and are on time with your car.

best of luck