Foreclosure and Automatic Stay question

[limonrod]

Hello all.

So we were trying to work out a modification (with BOA) on our house (we live in GA, a non-judicial state). Have submitted all paperwork to them on time as requested, etc. Today, we received a letter from an attorney stating that they represent BOA, that they are proceeding with foreclosure and that our house is scheduled for sale on April 3, 2012!!! WTH???!!!

We are naturally extremely concerned as we were under the assumption that foreclosure proceedings would be put on hold during this work-out time.

A little background on our house and our situation. The house is titled in both mine and my husband's name, but only he is on the note. The letter from BOA is addressed to him only. I (not jointly with my husband) just filed for Bankruptcy, Chapter 7, on 2/8/12, and, because I do have an interest in the house, I listed it on the appropriate schedules, listed my interest in it, name of creditor, etc, etc. My 341 meeting is scheduled for next week.

Our intention with the house is to try and keep it via a modification, but not to reaffirm it. My husband will also be filing bankruptcy at some point, but not yet. If we cannot modify then we will let the house go, but we are trying to stay in the house as long as we can as my daughter graduates from high school at the end of May, so we need to stay here for at least that long, and also so that we can save up some money for rental deposit, etc.

My question is, since I do have an interest in the house by being on the deed and I did file Chapter 7, wouldn't these foreclosure proceedings be subject to an automatic stay? Or would a stay only apply for my husband when he files since he is the only one on the note?

Thank you in advance for responding!

[LadyInTheRed]

The stay protects the property of the bankruptcy estate from collection. Your interest in the house is part of the BK estate. So, it should be protected by the stay. Send the letter to your attorney.

P.S. I deleted your other thread where you posted the same question. Please do not post the same question in two forums.

[limonrod]

Thanks for your response LadyInTheRed and sorry about the double posting....I was freaking out a little last night!

I am pro se, so I will contact the attorney's office and notify them of my bankruptcy filing and of my house's protected status.

[SMinGA2]

Out of curiosity - were you working on an in-house mod, or HAMP? I completed an in-house BOA mod 2 years ago. (My loan was Countrywide, acquired by BofA.)

Also - what were your reasons for filing your own BK now, and your husband's later?

[limonrod]

We are working on HAMP.

Reasons for me filing alone were two-fold. 1) We wanted one of us to get the clock ticking towards a fresh new start, and since I am the only one with steady income right now, the choice was me, and 2) we want to delay a foreclosure sale on our house for as long as we could, by my hubby filing later - like the Friday before the sale date if it came down to it.

I am going to send a certified return receipt letter to the attorney that sent us the foreclosure letter, giving him the pertinent information on my bankruptcy and also letting him know that I have an interest in the house, and therefore the house is part of the bankruptcy estate. Hopefully this stalls foreclosure proceedings another 2 months or so and will also give time for the modification.

[SMinGA2]

You could ask about an inhouse mod. Though I don't know if they'll start that unless the HAMP is actually denied. (I was not eligible for HAMP - so automatically went inhouse. Mortgage payment was already under 31% of income. We wanted to modify to bring loan current & reduce the rate.) Could be a useful stall tactic, since IMO there is less red tape. My mod process started in April 2010 and was completed in June. One lesson I did learn: when submitting your 'budget' for the mod they want to see $ available each month at the OLD payment. So downplay expenses. I guess they figured if things were too close on the budget, then a modification would only be a short term fix? I figured this out because they called to say I was denied due to a budget shortage - they had miscalculated the income from my part time job. (I'd had the 2nd job for 6 months when I started the mod process - if it had been any less, they would not have counted the income.)