Really Need Good Advice Please

[Ann]

All,

It has been 30 plus days since my 341 meeting and so far so good. As I have posted before I would really like to offer my second mortgage to settle with us and release the lien. I made my first payment after the 341 and my second is now due. I feel as if I would be throwing money down the drain by paying yet I am afraid they will want to lift the stay. Others have said to stop paying. I would really like some input here. My first mortgage is current and I do plan to stay in my home. It is pretty close to what I owe on my first and what I could sell for. Should I go ahead and make one more payment and when the case is discharged stop paying then? One more question... If I stop now would contacting them before the discharge be a bad idea as far as wanting to settle with them? I realize my posts are long but your advice means a lot to me so thanks in advance to those that reply!

[keepinitreal]

If you included your second mortgage payment in your Schedule J Expenses, and then you stopped paying the 2nd before you're discharged, it may look like your expenses were incorrectly higher than they should have been, and that you have a lot more disposable income.

Not sure if anything bad would come out of it, but I wouldn't take ANY chances of being pushed into a 13 while the Trustee is still in charge.

[SMinGA]

I'm guessing you are talking about the payment due August 1st... Would not be 'late' unless not paid by the 15th and probably would not even make a blip on anyone's radar since your account is under BK status for the lender.

The stay ends in ~30 days no matter what, when you are discharged. Would be pointless - waste of money - for the 2nd to file to lift the stay so that likely won't happen. (By the time a hearing gets scheduled & decision rendered, stay would be over anyhow.) Besides that - they are not going to even act until you are 30-60 days past due, if they act that quickly.

I'd say that if you're going the route of attempting to settle - keep the money. Though I have no clue on what it will take to settle... Perhaps you can find some who have dealt with the same lender to find out their results? Loansafe.org has a forum with lots of useful info on foreclosures, loan mods and such - maybe there are some on settled 2nds also?

[Ann]

Actually my second mortgage payment is always on the 23 of the month. I usually push it by paying before late fees are assessed. Obviously the 23 of July has come and gone so technically I'm "late" right now. Just wondering if I should keep them happy until the discharge at the end of August. Another problem with them is that they gave me a temporary modification a year ago. Come September that will end and everything goes back to the original terms including the fact that my payment will double. Would they still think they could get something from the foreclosure of my home if I'm really close to my first mortgage being about what I could actually sell for? I just don't want to ruin my chances of a smooth discharge.

[SMinGA]

I don't think this is anything that will impact your discharge. Of course it would not hurt to run the question by your attorney.

As to whether or not the 2nd will do anything, regardless of when you stop paying, no way to know that. From a business perspective: they must pay legal fees & pay off the 1st should they foreclose. If there is no equity, those are bad business moves and so unlikely. But some lenders are more aggressive than others...