1st letter from Lawyers

[holding on]

After not being able to come up with $x to satisfy lender's foreclosure rep, I got my 1st letter from the lawyers yesterday (thought the rep did say he was holding off on that until the end of the month - i guess he couldn't wait).

The part that's throwing me off is that the letter just says this a debt and I have 30 days to dispute the debt and/or ask for proof of debt or the foreclosure proceedings will start. No amount of arrears listed, no date I have to bring the arrears current, etc. Letter wasn't even registered receipt or signature required. In my research all I have read is that first contact from lawyers says pay this amount by this day or foreclosure starts.

Anyone heard of this before? So if I plan on ch 13 I can send a dispute debt letter after 20 days and stall the foreclosure and plan my paychecks more? Should I still work with lender's foreclosure dept for possible reinstatement, or is everything now through lawyers?

[HHM]

The creditor sent you the standard FDCPA debt collection disclosure. If you want, you can send a debt validation request, which will buy you a few days, maybe a week or two.

You still have a little time to work something out, but if they have engaged a lawyer, they are probably only going to accept a full lump sum payment for the arrears. Thus, unless you are prepared to make that kind of payment, I suggest you start working on your chapter 13.

[holding on]

Thanks HHM, I have a consultation tomorrow with a ch 13 lawyer. But today I started receiving letters saying my house has been listed in the local paper (i'm in Virginia) for a may 2 foreclosure date! Was that first letter I received a Notice of Default? I don't see anything that says 'notice' or 'default', and I have received nothing that says you need to pay $$$ arrears by so and so a date. I will see what the lawyer says tomorrow but that seems awfully fast.

[FreshLikeADaisy]

Holding on, I think you need to check with your local courthouse to see if foreclosure proceedings have actually started, whether you got notice or not. I don't know what Virginia state laws are regarding notification in foreclosure, but if they mailed it and that's all the law requires, you not getting the notice isn't going to give you a leg to stand on. Check out your state's foreclosure procedures (google is a good place to start) and check with the local courthouse as soon as possible. Good luck!!!

[holding on]

yes, being non-judicial here in VA it appears that the courthouse is not the first line of 'legal' defense. Visiting a ch13 lawyer to discuss planning the ch13 filing, he referred me to a lawyer who usually works for lenders in foreclosures. That lawyer told me he didn't see my property listed on any of his foreclosure databases. Even better, when I called the lawyers for the lender I was told point blank no sale date had been set! So hopefully those letters I've been getting are just assuming a sale date by tacking on a figure like 30 days to when the sale notice was put in the paper.

I really feel for those homeowners who don't have the resources or the info from a board like this. There's so much conflicting stuff. I'm recording this all in a diary as recommended by the foreclosure lawyer. So as I believe a moderator has said before, don't go for any of that Lender isn't in the foreclosure biz. There is a point where even with constant communication going on, they will foreclose.

[yak411]

Holding on-where are you in Virginia? I too am in Virginia and beginning the foreclosure process.

[holding on]

Yak, I am central va, richmond area

[holding on]

Finally! A date!

Grumble grumble! Had to call the Lender to get the foreclosure auction date as Lawyers office kept saying they didn't have one yet!

May 2nd was indeed the day. Hopefully I can file ch13 May 1 so that the apr 30th check can be used for household goods. Time to tell my attorney!

[yak411]

I am in the richmond area too! I filed 13 in November and thought that I should save the house at that time. I quickly realized it is just not worth it. I plan to move the first week of May to another house. I hope that you are able to file in time. I used an attorney in the area.

[yak411]

How late are you on the payments? I mean it seems this has moved pretty quickly for you.