How do I know if I am in Foreclosure?

[Shanfish]

I just logged on to Pacer tonight to make sure nothing has happened since my 341 on 3/22/11 and see that my primary lender has filed a Motion for Relief From Stay. I read one of the documents and it says something about a hearing on May 2nd and that they would like to proceed with Foreclosure. I am confused because I was never served with papers or received anything other than a letter saying you are behind and can pay $xxx to bring the mortgage current... was I in Foreclosure? Nothing has been filed... I thought that with the CH7 the mortgage debt is discharged and the property goes back to the bank with no Foreclosure, that was one of our reasons for filing CH7, to avoid Foreclosure. I don't care about the house, its not even worth what they put in the papers, they will be lucky to get half that when they sell it... but I just want to get discharged and have it all go away!

[espo1357]

I just logged on to Pacer tonight to make sure nothing has happened since my 341 on 3/22/11 and see that my primary lender has filed a Motion for Relief From Stay. I read one of the documents and it says something about a hearing on May 2nd and that they would like to proceed with Foreclosure. I am confused because I was never served with papers or received anything other than a letter saying you are behind and can pay $xxx to bring the mortgage current... was I in Foreclosure? Nothing has been filed... I thought that with the CH7 the mortgage debt is discharged and the property goes back to the bank with no Foreclosure, that was one of our reasons for filing CH7, to avoid Foreclosure. I don't care about the house, its not even worth what they put in the papers, they will be lucky to get half that when they sell it... but I just want to get discharged and have it all go away!

You will know you are in foreclosure when you have received a Notice of Default first, then the bank should notify you of the foreclosure.

Also, you can find out by contacting your servicer or bank and asking them. There is no need to be afraid of them.

Best thing to do is to understand your rights and go from there.

[Shanfish]

You will know you are in foreclosure when you have received a Notice of Default first, then the bank should notify you of the foreclosure.

Also, you can find out by contacting your servicer or bank and asking them. There is no need to be afraid of them.

Best thing to do is to understand your rights and go from there.

Thanks, is it possible to have received several Notices of Default? I never received anything from the bank that mentioned Foreclosure, the first time I have seen it mentioned is in the Motion to Lift the Automatic Stay. Also, do we have to be foreclosed on? I thought as part of a CH7, the bank just gets the property... I didn't think they could foreclose on you.

[shark66]

Also, do we have to be foreclosed on? I thought as part of a CH7, the bank just gets the property... I didn't think they could foreclose on you.

Yes.

The property is in your name.

The only way for the bank to get it back is to foreclose. They must do so in order to take your name of the deed and transfer it.

Trust me, they *will* let you know once the proceedings start.

Good luck.

[frogger]

You should received certified mail from your lender with the foreclosure information, and you should be listed in the legal section of the official county organ (newspaper) with the same info.

And as shark points out above, the will foreclose in order to get a good, clean title.

[Sweetpea3829]

You could try to do a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure with them. They may, or may not be game depending on how far they've already proceeded with your foreclosure.

When we went through this a few years ago, the bank wouldn't even talk to us about a deed-in-lieu. But then the housing market collapsed, all hell broke lose, and now I hear banks are much more willing to go that route.

Some will require you to put your house on the market for a period of time first. And some will say they require that, but will forego that requirement if you tell them that you've moved out of state or are unwilling/unable to keep up the property's maintenance. They'd rather take possession now, while the house is in good shape, than down the road, after you've neglected it for some time.

HTH...good luck!

[Shanfish]

Thanks everyone... I know it probably seems like a stupid question, but e I've never been through this. They haven't started foreclosure at all with us yet. Last mortgage pmt was May 2010 and the only letters I received were those Notices of Default which seemed to come every 60-90 days. I did contact them about a loan mod right away in May but since it was not our primary residence, we would not be able to do anything. Nothing else was ever sent to us. In fact my last Notice of Default came in December 2010, right after I got my escrow statement. Plus we have a 2nd mortgage (haven't even received Notices of Default from them...). We had tried to sell the house 3 different times starting in 2008. It was listed for 18 months total and we did not get a single offer. I wonder if that would work? Who do I contact? The bank's attorney?

[shark66]

Don't do any work for the bank. At least I wouldn't...

You've got nothing to gain with short sales, DIL and so forth. The debt was discharged in Ch. 7. You owe them nothing.

Let them foreclose when the time comes and call it a day.

My $0.02 only...

Good luck.

[CCCrazy]

Doesn't the NOD come from the bank's attorneys? I received my acceleration letter end of Jan. 2011 and in mid-March I received a letter saying all of my information had been forwarded to an attorney in my area - listing the attorney's office and address. I called Wells Fargo and the lady on the phone said the NOD would come from the attorney's office - is that correct? I've never received anything certified mail. my house is 30% underwater and I think I'm 9 months behind on my mortgage now.