I feel like I'm being pushed to reaffirm the house

[NewPage]

Married, filing singly, live in Oregon. First and HELOC on the house.

In our first meeting, the attorney advised me to reaffirm the first but not the HELOC. The more reading I do here the more I think I should *not* reaffirm, and my husband doesn't want me to reaffirm either (he hopes to refi under his own name eventually).

What is the smart thing to do? I do feel that my attorney is pushing a reaffirmation on me, and I'm not sure I want to.

[newbie2]

I would not reaffirm either, but for some reason your attorney is recommending that you do so. Have you asked your attorney why he feels reaffirming is in your best interest?

[ValleYum]

Are you using the expenses from the mortgage on the Means Test and Schedule J? That may be why... (Just thinking out loud)

[BKParalegal]

Using the expenses and reaffirming are 2 different things. Inevitably it is up to you if you want to reaffirm. If you have sufficient equity in the house (real equity not the kind of if we wait for the market to come back we will make a killing) then reaffirming is not a bad way to go since the mortgage company will start sending you statements again and report on your credit report.

Good luck

[ValleYum]

Using the expenses and reaffirming are 2 different things.

Thank you.

[tcreegan]

Hi NewPage,

Reaffirming is strictly voluntary and if you do cave and reaffirm, you have 60 days to rescind it.

Unless you have 20 grand in equity past both the 1st and 2nd or some unusual situation, the smart move is to not reaffirm either one.

If you are like most of us, with no equity past the 1st, the 2nd is essentially worthless and can be settled for pennies on the dollar.

Reaffirmed or not reaffirmed, doesn't make a difference for your husband refinancing later.

Reaffirmed or not reaffirmed, you can get credit reporting either way. If you request it in a letter, they can keep reporting. Likewise you can get online access & statements back, just request it after the case closes.

Attorneys know the BK code says you have to surrender, reaffirm, or redeem so they tell their clients to do one of these. Here I think there is a communication gap...they mean on the Statement of Intentions. Hopefully they know that there is a range of options past this and can help their client chose the best path.

...and not reaffirming mortgages seems to be the best path 99.99% of the time

Tom in Colo