1st BOA, 2nd GMAC in Florida

[carlinic]

Hello,

I have been reading all the different threads here and I am having trouble finding information on those of us who do not want to stay in the home. My first mortgage is with BOA ($183k) and my second is with GMAC ($50k) home maybe worth $100k. I moved out of the home in July 2009 and into a new home with my new husband. The old home is in my name only. My cousin was living in the house and renting for less than the mortgage was however, I was trying my best to pay the difference. May 2010 he moved out and I stopped paying because I just could not afford both houses. Previous to moving out I had the house up for sale but it just wouldn't sell. For months, no one even looked at it. Had an open house and no one came. Sad! Its a cute house but old.

May 2010 was my last payment on both the 1st and the 2nd. I sent GMAC a letter explaining my hardship and I included my 1st mortgage balance and print outs of comparable homes for sale in my neighborhood showing the sale prices were much lower than what I owed on the home. In the letter I made an offer of $3k to settle the loan in full. June 2010 I hadn't heard anything back from GMAC so I sent a 2nd letter and again the same in July 2010. November 2010 I rec'd a letter via fedex from GMAC counter offering my offer for $5k. This is the amount I had already told myself is what I was willing to pay so I immediately sent a letter via fedex the next day accepting their offer. In my letter I gave all my contact information and asked to please proceed and let me know what else they needed from me that I was looking forward to settling this. March 2011 I hadn't heard anything back in regards to the settlement so I wrote another letter requesting the status. GMAC sent me a letter stating they can no longer honor the $5k settlement. So I called them and the gentleman said because I did not call them and send the money that that offer was off the table now and that I have new offer. I told the gentlemen that their letter stated I must contact them before 11/19/10 to take advantage of the offer and I did and I have proof of them receiving it because I sent via fedex overnight and he's crazy if he thinks I would just send $5k with no documents to back what it would be for. He kept trying to say that that offer is no longer available and that the new offer is $14k. I told him you are crazy and since GMAC won't honor their offer of $5k then forget it and get nothing because the 1st mortgage is way more than the home is worth. GMAC started harrassing me by calling my work, my home, & my cell. So they used the letter I sent with my contact information to settle against me. I wrote a letter to GMAC stating I was exercising my rights under the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that all communication is to be in writing only and they are no longer to call me anywhere. Which they don't now. I also haven't rec'd anything else in writing.

As for BOA, its been over a year and they haven't even called wrote a letter nothing. I just get the monthly statement with the amount higher due to the nonpayments.

My question is how can I get GMAC to honor their $5k or even less now so that I can rid of the 2nd loan and then maybe short sale or deed in lieu with BOA? And if I can't get GMAC to do that, what should I do? How can get BOA to get the foreclosure process moving? I want to move on from this.

Any help anyone can provide is greatly appreciated. I wanted to do the right thing as much as possible and not just walk away but unless GMAC comes around then looks like that is my only option.

Thanks,
Carli

[Cat Damiano]

Hi Carli,


Welcome to the forum and thank you for joining.........

Unfortunately you are in a state that is so back logged with foreclosures that in the beginning of the year the full foreclosure process in Florida took an average of 619 days. Florida is a judicial foreclosure state. There really isn't anything you can do to speed up the process.

Judicial Foreclosure

All foreclosures in Florida start with the filing of a lawsuit. After the borrower has been served with notice, they must come to court and defend their rights. The lender will try to prove that foreclosure action is required because the borrower has not made the necessary payments and is therefore violating Florida's equity laws.


In the court order, it will be specified as to how and where the foreclosure will occur. The lender or their representative is responsible for placing (if applicable) the legal advertisement, publication, or notice in the newspaper as it relates to the foreclosure proceeding.


The right of the borrower to redeem ends at the foreclosure sale (or at whatever other time specified by the court). After the sale, the court reviews the sale to ensure that a fair price was paid for the property. It is during this time period (generally 10 days) that parties are allowed to object to the sale on the basis that proper procedures were not followed, or for example, collusion between bidders occurred. If the sale is confirmed without issue, the Certificate of Sale is filed and title passes. Another sale is ordered if the sale can not be confirmed.


The lender may sue to obtain a deficiency judgment in Florida under a separate lawsuit. The lender has four (4) years from the date of sale to file such a suit.



There are a couple of sample settlement letters in the following thread.

Second Mortgage Settlement Offer Letter


or you can follow the strategy for settling thread as well.

Strategy for Settling Your 2nd

[KrisD]

Hi - I'm curious to know how things are going. We are in Florida and have been advised by our lawyer to attempt to settle our second since our monthly income is negative and our home is underwater by about 120K (our second is 112K). GMAC is the holder of our second mortgage. I'm terrified they will attempt to sue us and garnish our wages. Have they settled? I would appreciate any information. Thanks!

[carlinic]

Hi - I'm curious to know how things are going. We are in Florida and have been advised by our lawyer to attempt to settle our second since our monthly income is negative and our home is underwater by about 120K (our second is 112K). GMAC is the holder of our second mortgage. I'm terrified they will attempt to sue us and garnish our wages. Have they settled? I would appreciate any information. Thanks!

No, they haven't settled. They kept changing the settlement amount. I sent them one last attempt to settle and gave a deadline and they never responded back. So I am just waiting.

[KrisD]

Any luck? Hope you don't mind my asking, just wondering how it is panning out.

No, they haven't settled. They kept changing the settlement amount. I sent them one last attempt to settle and gave a deadline and they never responded back. So I am just waiting.

[carlinic]

Any luck? Hope you don't mind my asking, just wondering how it is panning out.

Nope nothing new. I wish something would happen though so I can finally put it all behind me.

[KrisD]

We're about to send in a settlement offer to GMAC. Haven't paid since February. We'll see what happens - have the worked with you at all?

[carlinic]

We're about to send in a settlement offer to GMAC. Haven't paid since February. We'll see what happens - have the worked with you at all?

Nope they haven't sent anything. I did however receive a notice in the mail from them that they are filing for bankruptcy. I haven't paid since 2010 and neither BOA or GMAC are trying anything. It's getting pretty crazy. 2 years of non- payments and nothing. Good luck! Hopefully it'll work better for you.

[carlinic]

So I get home yesterday and I have a fedex on my gate from GMAC. In it is an Extinguishment Agreement stating that if I sign and return to them in the enclosed envelope and fedex label by July 30th the benefits I will receive are 1.) Second mortgage debt will be satified 2.) No future payments required under the Note / Line of Credit Agreement & 3.) The lien is released from the property. Also in the agreement it states that the debt will be reported to the irs as income so I'll probably have to probably pay taxes on it and that they will report to the credit bureaus that the loan is satified for less than the amount due. But nowhere do I see where they are asking for money to settle.

Seems a little too good to be true since I've been trying to settle with them for 2 years now and they just kept refusing my offers to now say just sign this paper and we're good. I have a foreclosure specialist/attorney reviewing it now to see if there are any strings attached. I'll keep you posted on what he says.

[Cat Damiano]

Hi carlinic,


That is great news, Congratulations! We have been seeing more of these, as a matter of fact, steelehop just received one too, here;

GMAC offering extinguishment of 2nd mortgage loan

[steelehop]

I got the same letter yesterday. I said the same thing that it was too good to be true. I figured that they are trying to get a lot subprime debt off their books since they filed for bankruptcy several months ago.

[steelehop]

I received the same letter yesterday and had the same feeling as you. That is too good to be true. I figure they are trying to offload their subprime debt while they are in bankruptcy.

[carlinic]

Well just heard from my foreclosure specialist and they said to sign it. However, I may receive a 1099 during tax time showing the amount written off as income. They told me though that there is certain criteria that people can fall under like if their amount owed on their assests are more than they are worth you don't have to claim the 1099 as income that the IRS has a form to fill out and submit with the 1099. I have to do more research on that. But hey at least for now, I can try and get BofA to short sale now and hopefully just have this all settled and I can move on. Good Luck to you all!

[steelehop]

I knew about the 1099 but you have definitely given me a reason recheck the tax laws.

Good Luck to you on your continued journey.

[carlinic]

I knew about the 1099 but you have definitely given me a reason recheck the tax laws.

Good Luck to you on your continued journey.

I haven't had much time to look into it but its called the Insolvency Exclusion. If you can prove yourself insolvent then you do not have to pay taxes on the cancelled debt.

[carlinic]

My GMAC extinguishment papers were processed and they filed the release of lien with the county stating they received full payment and the mortgage is now released. Crazy! Good luck to everyone! Now onto the next step of what to do with the Bank of America loan. Maybe list it for sale with a realtor and hopefully be able to sell as a short sale.