I Want a Freakin Break!

[BrokeinMD]

I am so pissed...made a hardship withdrawal to catch up my backed up mortgage, after PNC was kind enough to drop my interest only payment to 3% on my 10 year interest only 1st (I re-fied with a stated income one month after I was fired back in 2005). Fidelity, my 401k people, in their infinite wisdom, docked me my MD state taxes and still left me over $422.00 in arrears with my lender! I did this hardship withdrawal over the phone, so Fidelity says that it's going to take them a freakin week to investigate!!!!! I'm so pissed, and just want some freakin help from somebody takin money from me to give me a break! I just sent them an email to tell them I was dissatisfied with their service and I want a resolution immediately. Wish me luck! Thanks for letting me vent

[HHM]

Well, I question the wisdom of doing a hardship withdrawal to get caught up on an INTEREST ONLY LOAN. I am sure you probably discussed your situation elsewhere, but taking the withdraw is the LAST thing you should do.

[BrokeinMD]

I did not re-affirm it, but I just want to stay for right now. My attorney is great, but his head partner sucks. One day I called to find out about my filing and they wouldn't even tell me who was working on my case. Feel free to pm me, if you're in MD! Anyway, I don't want to leave just yet, so I wanted to bring it current.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Well, I question the wisdom of doing a hardship withdrawal to get caught up on an INTEREST ONLY LOAN. I am sure you probably discussed your situation elsewhere, but taking the withdraw is the LAST thing you should do.

BrokeinMD you are so wrong. HHM is right on in that you are stealing from your future, feeding a dieing dog, with money that is exempt. Since you are in bk now, why not just pull out all the money, burn it and you will be just as well off. It saddens me to see one who was as ignorant as I was, did what you did, and still on this forum.

It would take some time for procedure to evict you. In fact, far longer than your payments and penalties and deficit would be. Forgive my 'tude, but I see my ignorance but since you have this resource, stupid is no excuse for ignorance. Sorry friend, but your action is just plain not thinking. Did you attempt to get advice from your lawyer? 'Hub

[BrokeinMD]

My lawyer told me to get current, which is smarter right now than looking for somewhere to rent. I am not re-affirming, I write off all of my interest, so how am I hurting myself? I buy another year, my interest rate goes down to 3% in 2011, which is better than any rent I could possibly pay in this area and still I get to write it all off for another year. I pulled out a small hardship request, one I knew I could handle taxwise, and now I'm getting crap here instead of support. Thanks.

[AngelinaCat]

You have, in effect, taken an exempt item--your 401k--and trashed it. Not only do you lose your exempt retirement account, you get to pay mega-$$$$ in taxes to the IRS, if you cannot pay the full amount of the loan back in a very timely fashion, about 60 days.

If this was your lawyer's advice, I would say you got 'took'. You need to address that with him/her, not blast this forum for giving you 'crap'.

Any number of searches here about raiding IRAs and 401ks will give you all sorts of advice about NOT doing it.

And, I'll bet that when you do talk to the lawyer, he/she will say: "all I told you to do was to get current. I didn't tell you to raid your 401k."

[Flamingo]

My lawyer told me to get current, which is smarter right now than looking for somewhere to rent. I am not re-affirming, I write off all of my interest, so how am I hurting myself? I buy another year, my interest rate goes down to 3% in 2011, which is better than any rent I could possibly pay in this area and still I get to write it all off for another year. I pulled out a small hardship request, one I knew I could handle taxwise, and now I'm getting crap here instead of support. Thanks.

You will not find too many people to support you in taking money out of a 401(k) or other retirement account; your lawyer stated to you to "get current." Did you tell him your plans where you were going to get the money to "get current?" You should have checked with him first because it appears you are in the process of filing and when one does any financial transaction such as this, you need to check with your attorney first. Your withdrawal may be questioned by the trustee as all information regarding your 401(k) will need to be provided and a listing of any deposits or withdrawals within at least six months. I suggest informing your attorney immediately what you did. Best of luck to you.

[AngelinaCat]

BrokeinMD, if it makes you feel any better, 'Hub and I made our fair share of mistakes in our BK--including trashing 'Hub's 401k, thanks to very little guidance by our attorney.

We did not find this wonderful resource until well after we had filed--and our mistakes were firmly in place. We lived with them and learned from the posters here. But we did not castigate this forum, because the members told us honestly about our mistakes; we LEARNED from them.

Once our BK was discharged and closed, we chose to stay around and help newbies such as yourself. Because where you are right now, we once were.

My best wishes~~~

[AngelinaCatHub]

My lawyer told me to get current, which is smarter right now than looking for somewhere to rent. I am not re-affirming, I write off all of my interest, so how am I hurting myself? I buy another year, my interest rate goes down to 3% in 2011, which is better than any rent I could possibly pay in this area and still I get to write it all off for another year. I pulled out a small hardship request, one I knew I could handle taxwise, and now I'm getting crap here instead of support. Thanks.

The extreme bad part of people's misconceptions of the wonderful tax break house mortgage gives you, is way over rated. For every 100 bucks, 15 to 20% becomes tax exempt. Big deal. You lost 10% in penalties, 15 to 20% regular IRS tax, and apparently State taxes. As far as not getting support here, you have. You don't like it? Dust your shoes off and leave. We been there done all the ignorant things. Ignorant is no fault for not knowing, stupid is knowing but thinking your smarter than the system. You be #2

You will not find too many people to support you in taking money out of a 401(k) or other retirement account; your lawyer stated to you to "get current." Did you tell him your plans where you were going to get the money to "get current?" You should have checked with him first because it appears you are in the process of filing and when one does any financial transaction such as this, you need to check with your attorney first. Your withdrawal may be questioned by the trustee as all information regarding your 401(k) will need to be provided and a listing of any deposits or withdrawals within at least six months. I suggest informing your attorney immediately what you did. Best of luck to you.

Once the money hit his hands it became income not exempted. Then he performed a preferential payment above all other payments to keep a house he will lose eventually. But, as we have seen before, he will second guess good advice. Why wast money on a lawyer when you can make better decisions? Yeah, right.

[Bret]

Hello,
HHM is right on in that you are stealing from your future, feeding a dieing dog, with money that is exempt. Since you are in bk now, why not just pull out all the money, burn it and you will be just as well off...

[AngelinaCatHub]

BrokeinMD you are so wrong. HHM is right on in that you are stealing from your future, feeding a dieing dog, with money that is exempt. Since you are in bk now, why not just pull out all the money, burn it and you will be just as well off. It saddens me to see one who was as ignorant as I was, did what you did, and still on this forum.

It would take some time for procedure to evict you. In fact, far longer than your payments and penalties and deficit would be. Forgive my 'tude, but I see my ignorance but since you have this resource, stupid is no excuse for ignorance. Sorry friend, but your action is just plain not thinking. Did you attempt to get advice from your lawyer? 'Hub

Hello,
HHM is right on in that you are stealing from your future, feeding a dieing dog, with money that is exempt. Since you are in bk now, why not just pull out all the money, burn it and you will be just as well off...

Mr. Bret is setting up to spam us in his signature. He has posted four gibberish posts so far, then he will change his sig to his advertising link. It may be a micro sec that it is there. Bret you are obvious and will be banned.

[BrokeinMD]

Flamingo. Thanks, I can see that. I'm in a 7 and past my 341. Withdrawals due to hardship are 10% fed taxes, the other amount is exempt under hardship in my plan, plus 7.5% for MD. I did not withdraw my entire savings, and my plan took out the taxes already, but they screwed up the amount, thus the pissed off post. My lender changed my interest rate to 3% in February, which is going to make my staying here about $600.00 a month cheaper than paying rent, and I can write it off, rather than pissing it away to a landlord. I may end up burning it either way, but I burned a lot of money to begin with, and that's why I'm here. Angelina, maybe it's your writing style, but you do come across a little tough. Now, instead of calling me a freakin idiot, stupid, etc. please direct me to some posts about how to motivate my depressed other half into getting up off the couch and work on finding a job to provide for the household. I would greatly appreciate it.

[dneil]

Hey BrokeinMD-
We are awaiting our discharge, but my husband was out of work for almost 3 years. This is why we ended up having to file bankruptcy. Sometimes lifes circumstances can really bring you down. But you do what you have to do...... and getting depressed and kicking back on that couch you talk about isn't going to help you. We (hubby and I) know exactly how it feels to get depressed. We were there. But you have to turn your depression and disappointment into determination. Don't let circumstances bring you down.... let it bring you back to life. Get your rear off the couch, dust yourself off and get moving. Life moves and it will leave you behind if you don't get moving. You can do it. Just when we thought we would have to give up everything we worked so hard for.... he found a job. We still had to file bankruptcy, but we didn't have to worry whether there would be food on the table, heat to keep our children warm or electric to provide the lights and run our refrigerator. There is a little quote I used to say everyday.... (because my daughters name is Hope, I really loved the quote)

Hope is faith holding your hand through the darkness.

Have faith in yourself..... you have to believe that with your determination things will get better.

Good Luck to you and your family.

[BrokeinMD]

Dneil - Thanks for the kind post. My other half is on the couch, I'm carrying the burdon of heading the household. It's very hard. I have received two different answers to my mortgage from my attorney and his boss. His boss told me to keep my savings for a downpayment on a rental, but that wouldn't have worked, since my work plan wouldn't let me have access to it without proving hardship. So, under her advice, I would be living in a van down by the river when I hired her to help me to keep my house, as I wouldn't have any money for a downpayment from anywhere. My attorney said nothing about the hardship withdrawal, but he saw the letter from my lender dropping my interest rate and he said it was a good deal and get it current. There really wasn't any good financial advice from either of them. So, the chips will fall where they will, as I used the Lender papers to get money so I can stay where I live for now.

[dneil]

Broke--- are you going to lose the house anyway?