Here we go - missed my first payment on Friday

[ssmdem]

Well, I took step #1 towards our bankruptcy -- I know we're doing the right thing, but it's still so scary. We missed our first payment EVER on Friday on our house that we will be surrendering in the bankruptcy. Paying the credit cards this month (made some charges that I want to pay on some before stopping payments) but they will be missed next month. It's such a weird feeling - never been late on a payment in my life. But, this month - I really had no choice. After paying for all of our necessities (and those credit cards), I'm left with $200 - can't really make a $2800 payment out of that. In the past, all those necessities would have just been put on a credit card so all the bills could get paid, but with those cards cut up, ???? I'm so ready to get out of this mess!!

We are going to try for a modification (though I hold no real hope of getting the payment down to where I need it be) - I guess it's just a stalling technique on my part. At what point should we ask the bank about this - two months late, three months late???

I just keep wondering how much longer we'll really be here. I want to ride it as long as I can to save up as much as I can but kinda hard to save right now since we're trying to make sure we have no cash at filing too. At least my pantry is getting stocked up.

[researchnerd]

We did the same thing starting January 1...it sure feels weird missing that first payment, but it gets easier.

You can try for modification any time, but until we were 60 days past due they wouldn't even begin to work on it. If they contact you before then, you could ask about their policy - it's probably different for every lender. But we didn't hear anything from our lender until we were more than 2 months past due.

We were turned down for modification twice, but then offered modification two more times -- they had no idea we had already applied. It was like the reams of paperwork we completed and submitted just did not exist. We talked about applying again, but then realized there was no way they would have modified it enough to make it affordable on half our former income...so we ended up letting it go to foreclosure.

How long the process takes varies greatly depending on where you live and your individual situation. Our home is up for FC in a couple of weeks, so from start to finish it took a little over five months. I think your state offers homeowners more protection from foreclosure than GA does. You may be able to stall it somewhat with modification, but they state right on the application docs that it's no guarantee.

Good luck with everything! Our pantry is looking pretty good tood. We also bought a smallish chest freezer (about $200 at Sears) so we could stock up on frozen food before our BK.

[Faust]

Good luck to you!!

[ssmdem]

I've got to really start watching our income numbers closely to see when our average gets to the point where we can file and qualify for a Chapter 7. I really want to file sooner than later so we can really start SAVING instead of SPENDING it all.

Hoping we last here one more Christmas, but not the end of the world if we don't. The modification would have to get us into a payment of at a max of $1800 (which is still over the 31%) for us to comfortably do it. I just don't see them being able to knock $1000 off our payment. And realistically, we need it more at $1400 to be sitting good. So if we can file bk sooner, I may just skip even trying for the modification - seems like it's really going to be just more of a useless, time-consuming headache than helping at all.