Saving Ch13 and delinquent mortgage.

[mylife]

Thank you spidge for following up. We want out so we will be listing our house again soon. I followed up with my atty who said there is no audit, he would simply file the paperwork and voila discharged!

[spidge]

Still in wait mode, but muddling along. We made our 51st payment today.

We are down to 9 payments and with this last one all priority, claimed arrears, and percent payback are complete. Focused on the base now. I asked about discharge with payback percentage satisfied but in our district the base must be satisfied in order to finish early. The mortgage company claims they have all they need from us in order to complete the Modification, but we are all waiting for the appraisal to be submitted. That guy came on Monday so hopefully we will get some good news on that soon. So the mod would bring the house current and my federal return this year will pay the last of what we owe the IRS from 3 years ago.

So now I get to make a hit list for other items;
Pay the fees for the AP to complete the strip.
Take the debtors course.
Complete the support paperwork.
Once these are done I can pound the plan and finish.

Things are slowly aligning, but the ants in my pants are uncomfortable.

Life will be good again, soon.

[spidge]

So we have been under audit for quite a few days and today we received a letter with the annual statement on the back. The letter stated that because our disposable income in our plan exceeds the amount of the percent payback of our "claims" the payback percentage will be increased. I knew it would happen as so many here have shared that payback percentage does not matter and to focus on the plan base. Not everyone made a claim in the case so I always wondered how it would have been handled. Well now I know. We went from 3% to 18 %, but again it does not matter as the payment and plan is based on the disposable income determined at the beginning of the plan. So no changes from my end. It was neat to see the balance owed be less that the balance on hand if even for only one month.

Still on hold concerning the modification for the mortgage, but the mortgage company did send me a letter stating that our submitted loss mitigation package is complete. Unfortunately the same letter stated that it could take 30 days. Yikes! My last two mods took very little time in comparison. My "single point of contact" stated to hold onto any payment I might be tempted to send in and that we will likely be put on a trial plan. At this rate I may be able to cash out of the plan by the time the mortgage company approves us. I can dream.

Just to muddy the waters further my payroll became suspect as I received a fair amount of money that cannot be explained. Now because our pay stubs are online I saw it before I received it and called foul. That was December and I have called twice a week every week since and spoken to many departments to no resolve so do not know if it is my money or not. I certainly do not see where I earned it. The national HR manager was involved two weeks ago and still no answer. ARGH!!!!I understand the fact that I recently returned to work after an injury and that benefits payments become complicated, but in January I had $1300 taken when the base rate is $410. February was $1100 and my first March payroll was $500+. Nobody can give me a straight answer for all this and the underwriter at he bank for the modification is likely wondering too.

These dang ducklings just keep wondering off and my net seems to have holes in it.

[spidge]

I called the mortgage company today and was told that my trial payment will be quite a bit less than the old payment and much less than expected. They would not share the details but told me the attorney should see the packet shortly and my first trial payment will be in May. I am excited and we will have a small dinner out to celebrate. The real excitement will come if the documents reveal a good long term solution.

Piddling along, but making progress.

All the discharge announcements that have been shared here lately have me quite excited. I just love you Guys and Gals. I can't say enough how all the sharing and reading here at BKForum has helped with clear expectations and satisfying my occasional silly questions.

[dmc-2008]

Crossed fingers it's all good!

[sophieanne]

Spidge - that's geat news..i'm happy for you. Honestly now I'm on pins and needles ..I want to know the details too
It's wonderful how we all cheer each other on and celebrate in succcesses and encourage in rough times. It's a wonderful place to come with a lot of wonderful people.

[spidge]

Well we received the modification packet today and it looks OK. From what I have read is that as long as we make the three trial payments the payment will be the same as the trial payments. This documentation does not share the specifics and only tells us that at the end of the trial a permanent mod will be offered. It looks to me like the term has been extended quite a bit, but that can be dealt with. There is also a $1K per year incentive to make the payments on time and another $5K on the 6th anniversary of the mod. These incentives would be applied to the principle and that is fine by me.

So now we wait a bit longer and go through the trial payments which will end in July. It still feels uncertain, but at least we are in touch with the lender and making headway.

The trustee would not allow us to use the tax returns to pay the extra $2K for the AP on the lien strip. That was disappointing, but I did not bank on it anyway. This year should be the last one they get.

[sophieanne]

Come on Spidge...one step at a time...like how it's been for the past 5 years (everything is wait and see and trial/reward....sounds like a nice plan to me (with little incentives i would never have expected. Is the trial payment decent/what you expected???

[dmc-2008]

I love love love those incentives, it's almost like they are paying you back! I really got my fingers crossed for you! Woo hoo, no more tax returns to the trustee for you, that is huge!!! I was a bone head and made some mistakes and have to turn over 2000 plus this year! Gah!!!!! Taxes have been so hard the last few years because of all the changes.

You are so close!!!!!!

[spidge]

Come on Spidge...one step at a time...like how it's been for the past 5 years (everything is wait and see and trial/reward....sounds like a nice plan to me (with little incentives i would never have expected. Is the trial payment decent/what you expected???

The new payment amount will be a long awaited relief and be very manageable. The payments is much better than what I expected but I do not know all the terms. It is so low they must have extended us out to 40 years, but I cannot confirm that until the actual offer comes in following the trial payments. Even if it is 40 years I am determined to retire mortgage free so we will pay this sucker off, but not before we reward ourselves a bit. Cash only of course.

I love love love those incentives, it's almost like they are paying you back! I really got my fingers crossed for you! Woo hoo, no more tax returns to the trustee for you, that is huge!!! I was a bone head and made some mistakes and have to turn over 2000 plus this year! Gah!!!!! Taxes have been so hard the last few years because of all the changes.

You are so close!!!!!!

I agree that the incentives will be nice and be a priority. Free money!!!! Are you kidding. I'm in.

Since I was on Workers Comp almost all of last year my taxable income was almost nil. Of course we qualified for certain tax benefits and with that all previous years that we owed are now paid and the trustee kept the rest. Of course it would have been nice to use it ourselves but I expected the trustee to keep it.

So:
Back taxes paid up-----check
Mortgage modified-------check
BK payments caught up-----check
Medical benefits caught up------check
Back to work in a more satisfying position-----check
Adding to 401K again to maximize free company match moneys-------check

I set a goal to have x amount of money free and clear once our BK was finished and I think I will beat it by a landslide.

So close to where we can start living again. This I will have to relearn.

[sophieanne]

But what a wonderful thing to learn!!!! I truly am happy for you

[dmc-2008]

I agree with Sophieanne and would like to add that look at all the things you hAve accomplished! Great stuff!!!

[jange]

spidge, so glad to hear things are moving in the right direction for you. The next few months will go quickly. I'm still waiting for my discharge, but it is only a matter of time. Everything else is done.

[Pandora]

Spidge just be sure to keep copies of Everything you send to them and when you do send, do it Certified Signature Required. We had a mod done and it was a nightmare (PNC bank) had to fight the entire time because they kept saying they didn't agree to this or that, that HAMP wasn't required (it isn't law BTW nor mandatory) and so so so many other problems. It took the first 3 years to even get the payments straight with much fighting, legal letters back and forth and threats of lawsuits and even going to the media.

Just keep everything they send you...record all names, bagde or employee numbers, supervisor names etc. You will need them sometime down the road, trust me. Make sure you read all fine print because if the underwriter does not approve you even while in trial the process of foreclosure doesnt stop....that's something they don't divulge. Maybe this changed but I know it used to be that way when HAMP and mods first came out.
Congrats on the mod

[Pandora]

The way the trial payments work is the mortgage co. Still shows you as behind on payments because they only credit your trial payment as a "partial payment" which is why if you don't get approved they can continue with foreclosure proceedings. All of that info doesn't get told to you until you get the actual peperwork saying you were either fully approved or denied for the mod, which isn't until after trial payments are done. It took us close to 8 months of "trial payments" and fighting tooth and nail to get our mod so be prepared just in case it goes longer than 3 months.