Laid Off - What to do with my mortgage payments?

[CCCrazy]

OK, I need some serious advice. I just received word I'm being laid off. The last day at my company is June 25 and I will have 15 weeks of severance pay. Catch is - the severance isn't one lump sum payment, it's paid out every two weeks and if I get another job in my field my current company will stop paying it. My company still considers me a fulltime employee, and I still have full benefits until my severance runs out.

I have one mortgage that has been discharged in BK. My house is about 15K upside down - I love this house!!! But I have already started in my head to call it a house, not a home. Anyway, WF is my lender. I am not current, I'm about 5K past due. They have me on the three month plan where at the end of the three months they tak the past due and fees onto the principal and bring me current. I have read that WF is pretty quick with their foreclosures, even in this environment.

What should I do? 1. Continue paying and hope I find a fulltime job with benies in 4-5 months once I can start interviewing in October? 'Cause once severance runs out, the money will start to deplete quickly. 2. Should I stop paying now and save and see how long I can stay in the house free? I just don't want to be kicked out and have to move in the dead of winter. I'm in the Chicago area. 3. Do I stop paying now, save, and just move in late October or early November if I'm not kicked out by then? 4. Should I continue paying thru the end of the year and THEN stop and see how long I can stay in the house for free? 'Cause then I at least know I wouldn't get kicked out in winter.

[keepinitreal]

Start applying for other jobs now, so you can get your resumes in before your co-workers who may be laid off too. If you don't get another job, apply for unemployment when your job ends, or when your severance pay is finishing up. It takes a while to jump through the hoops and get your first unemployment check, so don't wait until you've spent your last severance check to start looking into applying for unemployment.

It sounds like you didn't re-affirm your mortgage, so you can stop paying for your mortgage without financial penalty if you realize you're not going to be employed, and stay in the house until the title is put into Wells Fargo's name. Once it's in their name, they still have to evict you and once that starts, then you can look for a new home.

Good luck!

[CCCrazy]

Thanks for the response...I too thought that you start collecting unemployment after severance runs out...thank GOD I called the unemployment office. They were like NO, that's wrong. You apply for unemployment the day after your termination date. They told me that the government does not consider severance pay to be compensation, and they look at the entire previous year to calculate one's unemployment. So if I had waited until the end of my severance, I would have had almost 4 months showing NO compensation. That would have sucked!!!

Anyone else on what approach I should take to my mortgage payments?