BKlooker's case update: Moral to story- LOSS MITIGATION + FORECLOSURE FIGHT = FRIEND!

[BKlooker]

Hi everyone,

This is me just checking in. It’s been an amazing 6 months since the process of BK started for me, so I wanted everyone to know how my case and life has been going since then.

My case was successfully discharged at the end of this past February, about 2-3 days after the expected date. I did have to pay the roughly 1 grand extra from my excess cash from my tax refund to the Trustee (in the form of a certified check from the bank), but I luckily didn’t have to surrender the refund to her entirely, and I did wind up getting back slightly more than anticipated anyway, so that was a giant relief. While my case still hasn’t closed due to the dispersal that needs to happen for any creditors claiming a part of the grand (only Chase Bank laid claim before the deadline, which past in mid April), everything is essentially behind me now with regards to the case. We successfully did a stay-n-pay on the house here in Maryland, the car was already fully paid off, and no other property was in question.

Meanwhile, I am still in my condo MORTGAGE AND RENT FREE! I paid my attorney to do a foreclosure and loss mitigation fight (5 grand up front, essentially most of my tax refund) for me in order to protract the amount of time I can stay in the house without paying the mortgage company a dime for as long possible. So far, the mortgage company did enter the foreclosure docket into the court system, but it’s waylaid/withdrawn now that I am officially in loss mitigation.

Because of the backup in the process with my particular subservices and mortgage holder in my state, they and my lawyers have informed me that the SHORTEST estimate as of right now to even complete the ASSESSMENT for my loss mitigation package is at least 6 MONTHS as of last week (early May)….that puts me through the rest of this year easily before I would even need to consider an offer! All the while, I am not paying them a dime! With no credit cards, no mortgage/rent, and no student loan payments for another 6 months, the ONLY regular payments I have right now is the monthly utility bills, at $350 a month total. The rest of what I make each month is ALL mines, for savings and general living.

I’ve already been able to save up enough money that I should be able to afford a new (certified used) car by mid July paying cash outright (or a very small loan, less than 5 grand, if I want a nice Honda accord model). I checked my official credit report 2 weeks ago…to my surprise, my score was averaging out to 645! The mortgage company had already enter all my backed payments into ‘IBB’ status, and with all the cc debt wiped out, it’s really not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

On top of all of this, my lawyer informed me of a few Fair Housing Act violations they have found while doing an audit of my file, and additionally my mortgage company has already said they are willing to do a cash-for-keys program with me, pending an inspection after I move out and clean the place up.

So, in closing….everything is going excellent for me! I’ve finished my Master’s Degree, and I also have a boyfriend now (who I am crazy in love with!). It’s so strange how life can go from abysmal to insanely positive overall so quickly.

I want to thank everyone on this board for all their support through the BK process. For all you guys out there going through it with a home tacked on, my best advice is to FIGHT THE FORCLOSURE AND DO LOSS MITIGATION! SERIOUSLY! I am amazed at how many people I have found on these boards leaving these homes only 3-4 months after they stopped paying. I haven’t paid a dime to my mortgage company or any form of rent since October of last year, and the bank hasn’t even posed a new deal to me yet, or otherwise worked on setting up some new arrangement, or contacted me in any way. It’s been a blessing in disguise….if I really can make it the full year without paying mortgage, I can easily stash away at least 14K…sticking that some kind of savings or CD for a few years easily amounts to a decent down payment when I decide to get a new home, plus plenty of money for some new furnishings. I am not taking any chances…I already have enough saved away that I could put down 3 months’ rent up front somewhere in case I need to move out fast if things fall through, but it’s not looking likely at all at this point.

I never thought BK was going to end up being a good thing…but it turns out to be the best decision of my life….

Bottom line: If you want to drag things out to save up cash after BK and have the option for stay-n-pay in your state, fight it out as long as you can! get a GOOD lawyer (emphasis on that point), and you could be in your home YEARS rent/mortgage free (8 months and counting now, and still not even 1/4 of the way through the process of foreclosure).

I am not advertising anyone take pride in going this route, but if you have little emotional attachment to your home and want to make the best financial future, try to stick it out as long as you can before eviction comes into play! It's so understated, and has paved a way for a very bright future for me and mine!

[skibum]

Congrats BKlooker. You are the case I wish I was. My lawyer told us to leave too quickly and it's been very painful. We are trying to get back in before they start foreclosure, at least for a while.

[BKlooker]

Yea Ski, it's like all the advice i have read and heard around tells everyone to get out within 3-6 months of their missed payments, but that just isn't jiving with reality in the bulk majority of places i have read in recent times. There are just so, so many homes on the market in foreclosure land, most companies are struggling to keep up with the back log, the paperwork back and forth, and the file logging....not to mention mortgage companies and banks are like any other job...people leave jobs and there is turn over, so lots of files get lost in the shuffle and further backlogged. By the time they realize up from down, you have been there for 18 months and they still don't have your house on the auction block.

I have a neighbor in the exact same boat as me right down stairs in my condo complex....different mortgage holder, but same deal; CH7, stay n pay, discharged back in December. She is working on a loss mitigation without a lawyer for right now but plans to get one soon to to egg out some time (in her case she has children, and she wants to avoid disrupting their schooling as long as possible until she can find a really nice place to live close to their current district).

But she still hasn't heard back from the mortgage company since submitting her paperwork for loss mit. 3 months ago, and everything she calls they are still 'in processing'. She has not even gotten a notice of intent to foreclose yet, and she hasn't paid mortgage in going on a year now. It's gotta be hard for those of you out there who WANT the process to end soon so you can obtain another home and/or otherwise financially severe ties with the house. But our cases, the longer the better.....