Keeping house in Chapter 7

[tls]

I filed (w/attorney) for Chapter 7 in October. I was 5 months behind in mortgage. My attorney and I agreed I would bring it current at/shortly after the 341. The day of the 341, my attorney asked if I was current. I told him I was trying to find out the total due (with penalties) but the mortgage company said they couldn't talk to me-only my lawyer. So he said he would get the figure needed to bring it current and I needed to pay it asap. So, long story short--the attorney says he never was able to get the amount from the bank. In the meantime, the bank had filed a motion to lift the stay, which was granted today. I got tired of waiting on the attorney, so last Friday I went to the bank and they told me I owed $2700. I paid $3000. (They wouldn't tell me over the phone, but the teller told me!) Anyway, my question is--since I'm caught up and plan to stay current, am I safe or will the mortgage company (bank) try to foreclose?

[keepinitreal]

I'm pretty sure you're in the clear now. My sister was behind $19k and paid it the day before the sheriff's sale and everything's fine with her mortgage now.

[debee]

I agree. You're no longer in default so there is no basis to initiate or continue foreclosure proceedings.

[tls]

Thank you! I was afraid they might return the payment or something. I paid in cash so the payment would be immediately credited without a time lapse waiting on a check to clear. And yes, I kept my receipt, made copies and scanned into my computer!

[tcreegan]

Hi tls,

If you are caught up and stay current, the bank has no reason to foreclose. You should be OK.

As you discovered, the bank has restrictions on contacting you during/after the BK. But, as you also discovered, apparently this has not sunk down to the teller level. Handy bit of information there! Mention this b/c you might find the bank won't send out statements or allow online access even after the BK, nice to know you have a way around this.

Hope everything works out for you !

Tom in Colo

[despritfreya]

Go back and look at the Motion that was filed. It may or may not give you a break down of what you owed when it was filed. While you may have paid enough to bring your mortgage payments and late fees current, you need to make sure what you paid was also enough to cover your lender's legal fees.

Your attorney should send a letter to the lender's attorney for verification that payments are now current.

Des.

[tls]

Thanks Tom. I tried for about 3 weeks to get the bank to give me the figures. I don't understand why my attorney couldn't get the info, but out of frustration I just decided I was going to take my best shot and give them SOMETHING. Luckily, the teller was helpful.

You're right, I cannot access my account online now. Since the stay was lifted today, I hope that I can contact the bank and they will talk to me now. I'd just like to confirm with them that I am back on track.

[tls]

despritfreya, thanks. good advice. I contacted my attorney and the paralegal was supposed to fax a copy of my receipt to the bank's attorney to get confirmation, but I didn't hear from them today. I'll call again Monday. I know there will be some legal fees, so I paid about $230 over what the teller told me. I can catch up any other fees if someone will just tell me what they are. I'm sure what the teller had was payment and late fees--not including any legal fees. Hopefully my attorney can find out!

[tls]

Update: Of course the court granted the bank's motion to lift the automatic stay. I checked PACER today and now the bank has filed a motion to "vacate order granting motion for relief from the automatic stay". In the document the bank filed, it states that 1) the court granted the motion for relief from stay, then goes on to say 2) "that the issue leading to the entry of that order has been resolved." I'm guessing that since I brought the mortgage current, the bank is happy--I'm just not sure what this "motion to vacate order" really means. Is the automatic stay still lifted or is it in effect? I don't think it really matters at this point--I'm just curious about whether I can have contact with the bank or can they only deal with my attorney? I'd like to call and get the amount of any legal fees I may now owe; I don't really want to have to deal with my attorney to get that info.

[despritfreya]

Sounds like your lender obtained an Order lifting the stay and is now asking the Court to set aside the Order - probably because you are current. Again, in a Chapter 7 the lifting of the stay happens, as to the debtor, upon entry of the discharge and, as to the Estate, upon closing of the case so the stay will be removed in a relatively short time anyway.

You can contact the bank but it will most likely state that it cannot talk to you. You can get, what I call, a "comfort letter" from your attorney that tells the lender it is ok to talk to you, if you want to deal directly with the bank.

As to the legal fee, since the lender is asking to vacate the Order, I have to wonder if the legal fees have been waived.

Des.

[tls]

My payments are current and I'm going to keep them current, so I don't really care if the stay is lifted or not. But today, I saw on PACER that there is a telephone hearing in January for the judge to consider the motion to vacate the order to lift the stay. WTH? It says my attorney & (I assume) the bank's attorney will be on the call, with the judge. Is this really necessary? I'm sure I'll get a bill for this one:-(

[despritfreya]

But today, I saw on PACER that there is a telephone hearing in January for the judge to consider the motion to vacate the order to lift the stay. WTH? It says my attorney & (I assume) the bank's attorney will be on the call, with the judge. Is this really necessary? (

Probably not necessary but some judges want to verify why a party is asking it to vacate an Order especially since the Order was entered at the request of that party.

Des.

[dneil]

When we went into foreclosure on my husbands house (a year after our daughter was born) we tried working with the bank. When I called them, they said that because we were 3 months behind there was nothing we could do unless we could come up with the total amount of the loan due. Meaning, get it refinanced by someone. In other words, we had to come up with 160,000. This was after we contacted the bank and they said we could apply for a hardship modification (before the making home affordable deal came out). In the end, we lost the house. Had I been smart, we would have hired a lawyer.

This was in 2007. The bank (national city) didn't give a rats butt whether we had come up with the past due amount or not. They said it was too late and was in foreclosure and the only way to get out of it was to pay the whole amount of the loan. I have bitter bitter feelings toward the bank. I also used to have bitter feelings toward my husband because when he should have been making those payments, he was paying the snap on (unsecured) debt for tools that was close to the same amount of our mortgage.

Now we have a new home and I pay the mortgage. I try to keep on eye on what he is doing with his pay checks, but he never lets me see his net income. He just gives me 300 a week and that is enough each week to pay a utility bill and pay for groceries. For this reason, I have decided to not reaffirm the mortgage and do the "pay and stay". You never know what the future will bring. I never thought i'd find myself with nowhere to go (like in 2007) and I never thought I (we) would ever have to file bankruptcy. You never know what life will bring you..... so far, nothing has kept us down or killed us