Trying to buy time

[serenevenice]

We had applied for a modification and had everything into CW 11/18. We have a option arm and were being considered for the AG program. They had a complete list of all the documents they needed and our online account confirmed it. They kept changing the date to call by. On 3/13 they changed it to modification cancelled because requested documents not supplied. The last payment that we made was 10/08. We currently owe 713K to CW/bofa and our second is 87k. The second was modified by Flagstar. Our house is worth max 550-600K. We had 2 NOD's expire, the last on 3/15.

We are probably going to let our house go, but are trying to buy as much time as possible. If I return BofA's calls and don't have adequate income to qualify for a mod (to again buy time) or do I continue not to answer the phone or return calls? Which will speed up the foreclosure process? FYI I am in Washington state. Under our law for non-judicial we have 1 month after a notice of default is posted on property and served via signature mail. Then 1 month later they set a sale date no sooner than 3 months after the default has been posted. After the auction, we have 20 days to vacate the premises. We have not had the notice of default yet posted.

We are also going to be filing for chap 7 in the next 2 weeks.

[Evan Bedard]

Hi serenevenice,

I would think your best bet is to continue speaking with your lender about a possible loan modification. If not, they will probably move along with foreclosure much faster...

[robijamie]

Hi,

We filed CH 7 Bankruptcy, so I thought I would chime in. The bankruptcy in and of itself will "buy you time". Basically, once filed, all your creditors will have to request to lift your "automatic stay" which makes it so they cannot contact you. I'm assuming because you haven't paid in so long, you will have to check the box in the bankruptcy papers that you are not keeping your house. So this could trigger BofA to request to lift the "automatic stay" quicker. Quite honestly, I think you have awhile in your house.

We filed in Dec 08 (last payment 11/08), been asking for a loan mod since then and know NOTHING. We would like to keep the house, but they are not making it easy that is for sure.

[serenevenice]

Robijaime, so have you not gotten a sticker on your house either? We have gotten so tired of waiting the 4 months for the modification and then they weren't doing any principal reductions, like they were supposed to under the AG settlement, Add on the fact that where we haven an option arm, even if they drastically reduce the interest it will still be higher than our current minimum payment. So we are now thinking that being this upside down, what is really the point? Even with a bk, I don't think we will ever recover financially from this recession and loosing 200K in value. This isn't an easy realization. We love our home, but it doesn't seem realistic to try to modify this loan. My husband is a general contractor and his business is so difficult. It will probably get worse as we move into the winter. Believe me, we don't want to have to give up, but at what point do you continue?

[Garry]

I had to make the same decision about giving up the house. I'm out of work and my wifes paycheck will either cover the house payment or the other bills, but not both. I did the math and after months of trying to get help, decided the best thing to do is give the house up and go rent a house down the street. Once the house went into foreclosure I got my Fed-EX package. I did the math again and decided that my new payment is still higher than what I can rent a house for, but it's low enough to make the house worth saving. Don't loose hope.

[mgallant]

Its so hard to wake up each day with the stress and fear of loosing your home which is probably the most important thing we all strive to keep. Trust me when I say I know how hard it is to keep up the fight when you feel there is no light at the end of the tunnel!

Each person here certainly has very different circumstances, but the bottom line is that all of our homes are or were in jeopardy of being taken. All I can say is that each of you need to weigh how important it is to keep your home then make up your minds what it will take to achieve your goal. If you decide your home is worth fighting for then you must fight with everything you have and not give in regardless of the walls you hit!

There are so many here that have fought for a very long time, me included and were rewarded with great MODS. It took 13 months of fighting for me to get mine! I see so many here who are giving up after just a few months and throwing in the towel.......If you truely want to keep your home and want to make your payments affordable you are going to have to be prepared for a much longer battle than a 3-4 month battle........