Bank of America doesn't reaffirm mortgage?

[laurannm]

I believe if you are current with the payments, you stay current and five years down the road you sell for more than you owe (minus closing costs), it's yours.

That is correct. Reaffirming or not reaffirming has no effect on selling the house down the road.

[mom2three09]

We're with BoA too & just filed BK. We've never been late on our payments and planned to reaffirm.. that is, until I found out that BoA doesn't reaffirm and that it's prob better that we don't reaffirm anyway. I'm just hoping our attorney doesn't tell us we have to either reaffirm it or let it go. Our plan is to just not sign the reaffirmation papers, if all goes well.

[liboton21]

Anyone experience in Southern California for BofA not reaffirming?

[Goph9]

reaffirm with B of A

I have a question for those that maybe have some better knowledge on this. We had our 341 meeting and everything went well but we wanted to reaffirm the mortgage on our house so we tried to contact B of A and they are pretty much ignoring us and not saying yes they will or no they won't.

After reading some posts it seems maybe B of A does not reaffirm is this true? If so why wouldn't they?

Also if we don't reaffirm but continue to make on time payments if we sell the house down the road how does that work? Do we keep the money above and beyond the payoff amount?

How does the escrow account work with taxes and insurance if we are not reaffirmed?


Thank you so much for any answers and for the forum here it is nice to be able to get some info from people in the same boat.

[mom2three09]

I have a question for those that maybe have some better knowledge on this. We had our 341 meeting and everything went well but we wanted to reaffirm the mortgage on our house so we tried to contact B of A and they are pretty much ignoring us and not saying yes they will or no they won't.

After reading some posts it seems maybe B of A does not reaffirm is this true? If so why wouldn't they?

Also if we don't reaffirm but continue to make on time payments if we sell the house down the road how does that work? Do we keep the money above and beyond the payoff amount?

How does the escrow account work with taxes and insurance if we are not reaffirmed?


Thank you so much for any answers and for the forum here it is nice to be able to get some info from people in the same boat.

BofA won't reaffirm. If you continue to make your payments you will be fine. Not reaffirming changes nothing, other than they will no longer report to the CRA's. You are free to sell your home at anytime. Or walk away from it at anytime too. Your escrow account continues the same as it did before you filed for BK.

[Goph9]

BofA won't reaffirm. If you continue to make your payments you will be fine. Not reaffirming changes nothing, other than they will no longer report to the CRA's. You are free to sell your home at anytime. Or walk away from it at anytime too. Your escrow account continues the same as it did before you filed for BK.

Thank you so much for your response! Appreciate it.

[tobee43]

BofA won't reaffirm. If you continue to make your payments you will be fine. Not reaffirming changes nothing, other than they will no longer report to the CRA's. You are free to sell your home at anytime. Or walk away from it at anytime too. Your escrow account continues the same as it did before you filed for BK.

yes...it's i agree with mom2three, it actually is a much better position for you to be in.

[tcreegan]

other than they will no longer report to the CRA's. ...and they can even do this if you ask them to do it..

You are in the drivers seat Goph9, enjoy the ride....

Tom in Colo

[dneil]

HI. I am with Bank of America (first signed with Countrywide). We filed for bankruptcy in July. My attorney told me that under no circumstance would he advise us to reaffirm our mortgage debt. Of course I was like many of you...wondering if I would suddenly lose my home because the bank decided they wanted it back. Bank of America currently DOES do reaffirmations. However, my experience with those I have talked to is that Bank Of America doesn't get the forms to your attorney in a timely manner. These forms must be filed before discharge and if they aren't filed prior to discharge they are not valid/nor legally binding. However, you can re open your bankruptcy case for two hundred nintey nine dollars, but why would you want to?

Pros of Re affirming.
1) Piece of Mind (of what, knowing you are personally liable and can now be sued?)
2) They will report your payments made on the mortgage?)
(note: today when I talked to the lady about my bankruptcy and mortgage from Bank of America she said they still report if you're current on your mortgage whether you reaffirm or not).

The positives of not reaffirming.
1) You are protected under your bankruptcy that you can not be sued should you not meet the original obligations of your mortgage.
2) You can stay in your home as long as you make your payments (just like with a reaffirmed mortgage) and own it once your home is paid for.
3) By not reaffirming, the mortgage company or bank may be more willing to work with you down the road to refinance or renegotiate. They want you to be liable for the mortgage....so if you don't reaffirm, then perhaps they can get you back "on the hook" when you refinance. Just make sure you stay current and don't be late on payments.


Now... that is what I understand so far in regard to reaffirming a mortgage debt. It seems pretty clear to me that it isn't beneficial to reaffirm any debt. Why pay for a bankruptcy that will put you back on the hook (personally liable) for probably one of the largest debts you have? Makes no sense. If you can keep your house and pay on it as you are supposed to (*whether you reaffirm or not) you WILL NOT lose your home.

The credit reporting is the only thing that bothers me. I am told by one person they still report if you pay your mortgage, but I also have been told that they don't by other people in the same department at the same darned bank.

But really, you can build your credit without them reporting every month on your mortgage. You can get letters sent by the bank showing you are current. You can also request with the bank that they note on your credit report that you are paying as agreed. There are things you can do to supplement your credit report so that when you have the report pulled (for a loan or what not) it has an explanation. That is my understanding....

If I am wrong. Please correct me. Some of the information I have gotten has been wrong, and some of it has been right.

[MC101296]

So does BofA still send a monthly statement?

[tcreegan]

Hi all,
So does BofA still send a monthly statement?

Might stop when you file b/c they don't want to violate the automatic stay. Call them up and ask, they can start sending them again.

they still report if you pay your mortgage, but I also have been told that they don't

Same thing, don't want to violate the automatic stay, wait until your case closes then bug them again.

Wait anyhow, seen multiple posts where folks staying current had statements and reporting continue like nothing happened.

As always, you mileage may vary...

Tom in Colo

[dneil]

I still get my monthly statements from Bank Of America. They never stopped. The only thing that was done differently is I had to send two separate checks to cover the first and second mortgage. I could no longer send one check because all of the money I sent would be applied to either one or the other loan and not properly dispersed. To be on the safe side, I called every month to be sure both payments were properly applied.

Bank of America does have some nit wits working for them in the BK department. One lady tried to tell me that if I did not reaffirm my mortgage that I could continue making my payments as usual, but without a reaffirmation and even if I made ALL payments, I might not own my home because I didn't reaffirm. This was a lie. I contacted my attorney who specializes in bankruptcy law and they can not hold your lien hostage for not signing an affirmation agreement.

Long story short... reaffirming just puts you back on the hook as someone who is personally liable. It changes absolutely nothing else... Bank of America admitted this to me on the phone yesterday. They continue to report your payments whether you sign the agreement or not... that is what the lady told me yesterday.

It took me a few months to fully understand the whole "reaffirmation" situation. In fact, after my attorney told me NOT to sign one with the mortgage company, I went behind his back and called numerous attorney's to be sure he wasn't wrong. I was at a point where I wasn't sure I trusted anyone. However, I did not find ONE attorney here in the area where I live that suggested I sign it. They common theme was "Do not sign one. Why would you want to sign one? You are protected now, if you sign one you will not be protected and can't file another BK for 8 years). I sat down and logically thought about what the attorney's were saying. My husband is 46, I am 37. If anything happened to him, I would not be able to pay the mortgage and all the utilities on my own. We have no safety net at this moment. What if he left me for some reason? What if he became disabled or sick? What if the house had problems that are not easily remedied... black mold, structure problems... wouldn't I want that ability to walk away with out being sued for what is owed on the house, foreclosure costs etc? The logical answer is that not signing the agreement would allow me protection. A wild card per se. So I will not be reaffirming my mortgages. I will continue to pay, continue to try to get this house paid off. Or maybe down the road I will sell this house. The point is, I have ALL of the same advantages as I did prior to bankruptcy, and one extra bigger advantage... if I don't or can't make my obligatory payments, they can not ruin my life by suing me. That is the power and protection of bankruptcy.

Good luck to all of you