Reaffirming 1st mortgage but not HELOC

[KatieEllen24]

I'm about to file chapter 7. My house is worth about $320,000. I owe about $272,000 on the 1st mortgage and $65,000 on HELOC.

Can I reaffirm the 1st without reaffirming the HELOC? They're with the same bank.

Anyone ever done this?

[shark66]

None of my business, but why would you reaffirm anything at all?

[tcreegan]

Hi Katie,

Reaffirmations are strictly voluntary, you can reaffirm one, both, neither, and even if you do reaffirm, you can come to your senses and rescind w/in 60 days.

What happens later, is really lender-dependent, if you post your lender you might get better response.

And, of course, the best source of info would be from your actual lender....

Good luck with it,

Tom in Colo

[KatieEllen24]

I've planned all along on not reaffirming either mortgage. I don't plan on staying here more than 3 or 4 years anyway.

Just been reading some different opinions on the subject lately and I'm starting to have second thoughts. I'm scheduled to file in a week.

[KatieEllen24]

Hi Katie,

Reaffirmations are strictly voluntary, you can reaffirm one, both, neither, and even if you do reaffirm, you can come to your senses and rescind w/in 60 days.

What happens later, is really lender-dependent, if you post your lender you might get better response.

And, of course, the best source of info would be from your actual lender....

Good luck with it,

Tom in Colo

Come to my senses! I think I know your opinion.

[dneil]

Re affirming was a bad idea in my case. I owe less than what it is worth, but I can't file a bankruptcy again for what... 8 years? Well, what if my husband walks out on me, becomes disabled or dies and I can't make my mortgage payments? Well, if I re-affirm the mortgages I can be sued by the Mortgage company. If I didn't reaffirm, I can't be sued. And if I decide to sell, the equity is still mine to keep just the same had I re-affirmed.

In both cases, as long as I make my house payments, I get to stay in my home...... for me it was a no brainer..... no re-affirmation here. The economy is not strong and the future is definitely not foreseeable since 4 years ago I would never have guess i would be on a bankruptcy forum.

I didn't reaffirm, and I am happy with that.

Best of luck to you

[KatieEllen24]

Re affirming was a bad idea in my case. I owe less than what it is worth, but I can't file a bankruptcy again for what... 8 years? Well, what if my husband walks out on me, becomes disabled or dies and I can't make my mortgage payments? Well, if I re-affirm the mortgages I can be sued by the Mortgage company. If I didn't reaffirm, I can't be sued. And if I decide to sell, the equity is still mine to keep just the same had I re-affirmed.

In both cases, as long as I make my house payments, I get to stay in my home...... for me it was a no brainer..... no re-affirmation here. The economy is not strong and the future is definitely not foreseeable since 4 years ago I would never have guess i would be on a bankruptcy forum.

I didn't reaffirm, and I am happy with that.

Best of luck to you

I see you're in Michigan too. That's how I felt all along. You sound a lot like me. Where you at in the process? No problems with your bank?

Also, love the quote at the bottom of you reply.

[dneil]

Yes. I am up by the pinkie. I was just discharged January 4, 2011. The bank (bank of america) has been absolutely wonderful. They seem to be fine with how things are. They have been very nice on the phone and have been helpful. They did not seem to care weather I reaffirmed or not. I am happy with my decision and 3 or 4 years down the road, I might refinance and then they can have me back on the hook. By then, I am hoping we will be able to budget life insurance in case anything happens. My hubby is 9 years older than me and we have a 4 year old so I have to be 10 steps ahead. So naturally, I am going to be protective of our future for my daughters sake. If that makes sense. I researched and researched. My attorney advised against a reaffirmation agreement... and I even called other attorneys in Michigan to ask them for second opinions. Every single attorney I called in the phone book said there was NO benefit, other than monthly reporting on my credit report, to reaffirming. In fact, after a few years you can ask the mortgage company to at least report "paying as agreed" under the mortgage that has been discharged.

" my quote is a quote by another member here who said this in one of the threads. I LOVED it so I put it down there and gave her credit" Best line I have read here yet that has made me smile. Because in the grand scheme of thing, our FICO score means nothing when we are dead and gone. Society conditions us to believe that if we have a high Fico score, we are more trust worthy, less risky. Personally, I think the FICO system is bogue and a very skewed way of rating people's credit worthiness and should have no other bearing on our lives in regard to employment or car insurance. ....okay, off my tangent