Ceterus / Fannie Mae Foreclosure - Asset protection

[jmtom11]

My story in a nutshell
Myself and a Friend bought a townhouse together in 2005, paid the mortgage dutifully for 4 years then both of us lost our well paying jobs around the same time.

I found a new job fairly quick (3months) and was living out of state, he stopped paying the mortgage.

Well it has been about 2 yrs with out a mortgage payment and i am pretty sure Forcolsure is coming. Based on previous sales in the area i am thinking the house will sell for around 60k (we owe 160). Ceterus told me they would do a deed in lieu if we satisfied the 2nd mortgage with chase- which I did. Now to proceed due to new regs they want bank statements, w2 etc... I made over 100k last year and really just want to get rid of the property, i would offer them cash if that would work (it worked for the 2nd) but i also feel like doing that would let them know there is blood.

Wondering if I should just keep quiet and see what happens?

I want to be proactive and protect my assets....

Things I have done :
Gotten Married, all my bank accounts are tennants of the entirety accounts and have been for over a year.
Maxed out my retirement (roth / 401) accounts so that as much money as possible is going into them.
We bought a new house, she is primary on the deed and the loan but it is our homestead.
My company provides me a car so I do not own one.

I have about 50K in bank accounts - i was thinking one option would be to stick 40k of it in a no load annuity and just **** it up and eat the 10% gov't excise tax when I take it out down the road.

I was also thinking of having my company reduce my current pay to show lower income.

Basically, I think it would be easier to settle with a collection agency down the road than it would be to convince fannie mae to do anything about our loan.

[Cat Damiano]

Hi jmtom11,


If you do go the DIL route you will be asked for financials as you are, the DIL will also reflect on your credit just as harshly as a foreclosure. With a foreclosure, you wouldn't need to jump through all of these hoops or show the financials. There is a good thread discussion on the differences here;

SS vs DIL vs FC Comparison

[jmtom11]

Thanks for the reply. Yes last thing i want to do is show financials... the loan is relatively small in the grand scheme of things. i think it is best to just sit quiet and wait it out.