Full Principal Forgiveness of Your Home Equity Account

[pcn]

I thought that would get your attention.

28 months after discharge, many sleepless nights later, and yesterday we received a FedEx package. I'd been waiting for it, since I havent paid our 2nd for 31 months and BOA has always replied "We dont settle" to every phone call and every letter we've sent.

The FedEx driver looked serious. I asked who it was for. It was for me. I asked if I needed to sign for it. "Not for these you dont" he replied. It had a very ominous, serious, depressing sound, as if he had delivered many foreclosure notices in the past. It was from BOA. I took the letter inside and went into another room away from the kids and my wife so I could read it in peace. It was also so that I could regain my composure if needed before I told my wife what the letter said.

The foreclosure letter starts off "We are pleased to inform you". What kind of sicko sends a forclosure letter with that kind of greating? "We are pleased to inform you that we have approved your Home Equity account for participation in a principal forgiveness program offered as a result of the Department of Justice and State Attorneys General global settlement with major mortgate servicers, including Bank of America, N.A. You will recieve a full forgiveness of the remaining principal balance of $40,000 on your Home equity Loan account".

We are still in shock. With this, our house is almost back above water. For over two years we have put off doing any repairs or improvements because we just didnt know if we would be able to stay long term.

I am sharing this because I want to give hope to someone who, like me, had lost all hope and was at the end of their rope. The night before the letter arrived I hadnt slept at all, just thinking, wondering, and worrying about the future we had created for our children, and wondering how we could ever salvage it. Not small worries, but the kind that make you shake and just want to curl up and die.

This is just one more storm we've been blessed to have survived; somehow we need to remember that He is with us in every storm.

[AngelinaCat]

Congratulations on this wonderful news!!!

[spidge]

Congrats on your uplifting news.

Can I ask how old your loan was, and why did your loan qualify?

[ValleYum]

Yay! I am so pleased for you and for your family. What a big blessing.

[pcn]

Congrats on your uplifting news.

Can I ask how old your loan was, and why did your loan qualify?

We took out the loan through Eloan in 2007, then it was with Popular Mortgage for a while, then finally with BOA. It had an 11% rate, and we were very excited that Eloan told us that our house was magically worth exactly 40k more than we bought it for, and they were so happy to lend us exactly that much. Boy were we stupid.

How did we qualify? I have no idea. When I called BOA to find out if the letter was real I was still in shock and didnt even ask about that. Divine intervention maybe? Maybe someone with some sense finally looked at it and realized that it was 100%+++ unsecured and that the homeowners were never going to make another payment on it. Maybe the gov't is giving them a deal, or their insurance will pay them off, or maybe it is just the opportune time for BOA to get out. I do wish I knew.

[spidge]

Don't feel bad about it as many of us had wide eyes when the mortgage companies told us what we could have in a loan. I could have written that passage word for word. I am in a 13 to strip my 2nd, but I wonder if I call the attorney and see if they may know something. Sure would be nice to check that off my list.

Regardless of why, I am sure pleased to see you made progress on top of your discharge.

[ryan]

Yep, I got mine Sept 11, 2012. Same FedEx, same letter. BOfA is forgiving the entire indebtedness, due to an agreement with The US Justice Dept. An unexpected piece of good news.

[pcn]

Yep, I got mine Sept 11, 2012. Same FedEx, same letter. BOfA is forgiving the entire indebtedness, due to an agreement with The US Justice Dept. An unexpected piece of good news.

Whooo Hoo! Great news. I'm glad to hear of your good fortune!

[Vienne]

A quick question regarding your BOA loan. Did you file paperwork during this time trying to negotiate
a settlement or did you just stop paying? We have GreenTree for our second who is owned
by BOA. We received our Ch 7 discharge 9/12/12 and are awaiting our papers. We contacted
GreenTree to negotiate a settlement, but they want a boat load of paperwork with 2 years of
tax returns, etc. I think we should ignore them for a while and see if they sober up. Our house
is upside down like everyone else. The 2nd has no position and will get nothing if we walk away.
Congrats on your settlement with BOA. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the same.

[2muchinDebt]

Congrats pcn!!! Same thing here almost identical.. we even filed the same month as you and were discharged same month as you give or take 5 days. Our HELOC was $47k. Only thing different is ours came via UPS!! I a very happy for you and I know exactly how you feel. One thing I am wondering though, and that is once our mortgages get to the even point or a having a little equity would or CAN the bank take it back even though we all pay on time? (Sorry not to give you something to worry about or be a Debbie Downer) I just want to be sure we're good.

[pcn]

We stopped paying a month before we filed. I did try to negotiate by sending 2 different letters to the supposed contact at BOA who helps with settling -"office of the president" or somethng similar in her title. But we never got any response, and I didnt push it. I also called several times but always got the company line "We don't settle". It has been very stressfull since deciding not to pay and try to settle. You will find many people who will tell you 1) How easy it is and 2) "They" will never forclose if your home is underwater. But the reality is that 1) Those who have successfully settled are about as easy to find as leprechauns and 2) They dont live in your house and have to worry about being homeless if their great advice doesnt succeed. The truth is the internet and message boards are full of helpful idiots who simply repeat what they read on another message board. This site does have many helpfull, knowledgable, and supportive people, but I think there is only one person here who has actually succeeded in settling. The somewhat scary truth is that if there hadnt been this government negotiation our situation might have dragged on for years without resolution. In the alomost 3 years since we decided to try settling, I have not found any more people who have succeeded than I could find before we decided to try. So, based on my personal, limited, experience I would probably not do it again if I could. I would walk away and start over.

[tobee43]

there is HOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fallonedward]

I thought that would get your attention.

28 months after discharge, many sleepless nights later, and yesterday we received a FedEx package. I'd been waiting for it, since I havent paid our 2nd for 31 months and BOA has always replied "We dont settle" to every phone call and every letter we've sent.

The FedEx driver looked serious. I asked who it was for. It was for me. I asked if I needed to sign for it. "Not for these you dont" he replied. It had a very ominous, serious, depressing sound, as if he had delivered many foreclosure notices in the past. It was from BOA. I took the letter inside and went into another room away from the kids and my wife so I could read it in peace. It was also so that I could regain my composure if needed before I told my wife what the letter said.

The foreclosure letter starts off "We are pleased to inform you". What kind of sicko sends a forclosure letter with that kind of greating? "We are pleased to inform you that we have approved your Home Equity account for participation in a principal forgiveness program offered as a result of the Department of Justice and State Attorneys General global settlement with major mortgate servicers, including Bank of America, N.A. You will recieve a full forgiveness of the remaining principal balance of $40,000 on your Home equity Loan account".

We are still in shock. With this, our house is almost back above water. For over two years we have put off doing any repairs or improvements because we just didnt know if we would be able to stay long term.

I am sharing this because I want to give hope to someone who, like me, had lost all hope and was at the end of their rope. The night before the letter arrived I hadnt slept at all, just thinking, wondering, and worrying about the future we had created for our children, and wondering how we could ever salvage it. Not small worries, but the kind that make you shake and just want to curl up and die.

This is just one more storm we've been blessed to have survived; somehow we need to remember that He is with us in every storm.

Wow, your story is so similar to mine... I got home and my son told me Fed Ex delivered a package to us as well from BOA, I really thought it was a scam but now I'm numb. We have done zero repairs on the house as I kept waiting for BOA to come after me on the 2nd mortgage...

I'm still numb, but congrats to all of us....

[spidge]

I wonder how the settlement between BofA and the DOJ effects those in the middle of a CH13 that includes a lien strip?

[68EDDIET]

We are 3 years into our 5 year right now. We are curious since we will have full forgiveness how it will effect our plan. Our original lawyer now works for the Trustee office so we are in the search for a new attorney. Will the money payed towards our second while in plan go to other unsecured debt? Will we be able to try and close the 13 early? We are 27% of plan and the second being forgiven is 97,000. If we are able to repay this will leave us with 18000 left on our plan at the 27% payback. Is anyone familiar how this will play out for us? Will meet with a new attorney in a couple of weeks but desperately curious in the mean time.