More:
Obviously, if the bankruptcy court tells you to reaffirm or else surrender your house, you will need to consider reaffirming. But, you should also consider whether surrendering the house makes more sense.
And, some mortgage servicers refuse to consider a homeowner for mortgage modification (including HAMP modifications) unless the homeowner reaffirms.
Generally, a homeower should NOT consider reaffirming until he or she has a firm, written modification offer in writing specifying all terms– including the interest rate.
Otherwise you could reaffirm but never actually receive a modification offer. You then would have signed up for personal liability and gotten nothing in return.
Be prepared for a “chicken or egg” problem, however. Considering servicers’ seeming reluctance to process modifications, it can be difficult to get them to produce the modification paperwork before they have everything they want– including the reaffirmation.
Don’t let this deter you from requesting a modification, however. Homeowners have reported some servicers did not even raise the issue of reaffirmation when they applied for a post-bankruptcy modification. (And the homeowners, perhaps wisely, did not “remind” the servicers about the bankruptcy discharge.)
This may just be because the servicers are disorganized. Or, maybe servicers have started to realize it is in their best interest to modify.
Source:
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: Mortgage Reaffirmation and Mortgage Modification, Including HAMP |
Another Attorney says:
Many Chapter 7 debtors state on their petitions that they intend to keep their exempt home and "reaffirm" the debt, but during the bankruptcy they do not sign reaffirmation agreements with their mortgage lenders. Bankruptcy law requires debtors sign reaffirmation for personal property they keep, such as their car, but there is no required reaffirmation agreement for loans secured by real property, such as the homestead. If a debtor lists his mortgage but does not reaffirm the mortgage note the debtor no longer has personal liability on the mortgage note after the bankruptcy discharge. The mortgage lender attorney explained that his client, the mortgage company, can not or will not modify a mortgage when the borrower is not personally liable to pay the mortgage. In other words, why would the lender want to extend their own risk on a defaulting loan and offer better mortgage terms to a borrower who has eliminated their own personal risk?
Debtors who hope to modify mortgages may want to consider reaffirmation of their mortgage debt. Debtors should be wary of signing a binding modification agreement with their mortgage lender based on the lender’s oral statements and the debtor’s hope that the mortgage can be modified. Debtors can withdraw reaffirmation commitments until the bankruptcy case is closed or for 60 days, but thereafter, the reaffirmed debt binds the debtor whether or not the mortgage lender agrees to an attractive loan modification.
posted by Jonathan Alper, bankruptcy and asset protection attorney, Orlando, Florida