Good thread...I am in Pierce County, WA and started my walk on 6/1/11. No phone calls, plenty of letters from the 1st. Nothing at all from the 2nd. They know they are second fiddle. Came home yesterday to the envelope hanging on the door. "Please call" I will not be calling!! I will be happy to update you as this plays out. Please do the same, it is nice to compare time frames.
kaopr1 - You really will not get anything until you go past the 15th of August. Things start getting busy after you are 30 days plus late. Good luck and thanks for posting.Originally Posted by kaopr1
Another update:
July 1, 2011: First missed payment
July 19, 2011: Finally received calls. Two calls from Bank of America (did not leave messages).
July 20, 2011: One phone call from Bank of America (did not leave messages).
When I log onto the BofA website to look at my loan, it does tell me I've missed a payment and gives me options to discuss reasons why (i.e. unemployment, medical, divorce etc).
I check the box that says "I will not pay them at this time" and select "do not want to give reason" as explanation.
Hi kaopr1!! We are going through the same thing with BofA... we started our walk this month and have the same experience so far in relation to the phone calls. I learned about Google voice on another thread in this forum and I have to say it is very effectiveGood luck!
My thread is at: Leaving the Condo in Washington (strategic default) if you want to follow it!
I am with Flagstar Bank. My home is in Renton, bought in 2007 for 380,000. Zillow is currently showing the value at 189,000. Now that I am divorced I have just enough money to make the payments but it feels like a complete waste to throw my money into this hole. I went and saw Lee Brettin, a lawyer who was mentioned earlier in this thread, and he was very helpful and thorough in all of his answers. I had made a one hour appointment but he sat with me for nearly an hour and a half and charged a reasonable fee. Basically what I got from him is:
Judicial foreclosure - Just not gonna happen, unless you are commercial and the bank stands to gain anything. For a residential owner, it is much more cost effective for the bank to go the non-judicial route.
Non-judicial - You just walk, you will not be liable for any debt, you will not pay lawyer fees.
Forgiven debt is currently not taxable.
The foreclosure can happen in 120 days from the bank's first notice, but you may end up living there much longer depending on how aggressive they are.
I have made my decision. Come August first, my paycheck is going into my pocket.
@caveman
"It's so easy even you could do it!"
Welcome to the walking club. Making the decision is the hard part. The first month and the last month before moving out is the next hardest part. Questioning yourself whether you made the right decision and all....
I have posted details of my walk in Washington in case you are interested.
My Walk, Vancouver WA, Provident Funding 1st, BOA 2nd
________________________________________________
Home Value: 240k | Loans: 1st Provident 235k, 2nd BoA 60k
8/10: Stopped payments on both
12/10: NOD
4/11: NOS
7/11: Trustee sale
8/11: Move out, $3k C4K
____________________________________
FICO:
7/10 = 824 | 8/10 = 802 | 9/10 = 789 | 10/10 = 718 | 11/10 = 637 | 12/10 = 625| 1/11 = 619
2/11 = 630 | 3/11 = 627 | 4/11 = 641 | 7/11 = 639 | 9/11 = 657 | 1/12 = 650 | 5/12 = 660 | 8/12 = 724
I can't recall if I posted this or not, but we had to back out of the walk for two months, it ****s, but due to a certian financial hardship that would have occured we had to start over... I am so unhappy about this, but we know it was the right choice, you never know what life is going to throw at you, that's for sure...
So, it begins!
About us: My husband and I decided to walk, starting next month. We purchased our townhome in 2007 and we paid $293k for it. At current time, the exact unit is selling at $140k. Ouch!! We're not in financial distress and we are very responsible. I just can't pay anymore money into something that is losing so much value. Our loan is with BOA (evil). I called BOA 3 times over the course of the year to discuss our options. First time, the representative told us to pay $60k to get to 20% equity (at that time). Second time was to ask for loan mod, and of course, we're not qualify. Third time was to ask about short sale, and we're not qualify either. We tried to do the affordable housing program, and we were not qualified because of the value of our home after the appraisal. I was against walking away, but my husband was not. So, he waited for me to change my mind. When I found out that we're losing $153k, I decided to pay a small fee to meet with a lawyer. The lawyer mentioned exactly the same as what others have mentioned on this forum. What makes me upset is that BOA wouldn't work with us at all!!
Our plans:
1. moved our $ to another bank
2. close the bank account that has the automatic payment with BOA
3. Sign up for google voice account
4. open a safe deposit box to save our cash? - I don't want BOA to ask for our financial statement. Do you think it's okay for me to hide our money?
5. Not buy any cars or another house
6. Continue to pay our HOA dues
7. Continue to live in our townhome until we receive our NOD?
Our first planned miss payment: 08/10/2011
Our credit score: greater than 800, I think it's 840 last time I checked.
Will keep you posted.
If you put cash into a safety deposit box, take pictures of the serial numbers at home outside the view of anyone before you deposit just in case... it's something I read, don't know if it would help or not, but my buddies safety deposit box got robbed, and it must have been by the bank because supposedly no one else can get in, right?
Thanks Scubagear for your reply. I'll talk to my husband about safety deposit box again, but he also proposed to have my parents open another USAA account to deposit our money for us. I'm a bit concerned about having my cash be stolen from the box. I assumed that our deposit box would be insured.
I like the idea of having another account under my parents' name, but can BOA request financial statements from our parents?
I think I should have posted my post on a new thread. Sorry for "hijacked" this thread. I'm a newbie.
:-(
I have many of the same questions regarding changing accounts, safety deposit boxes, and accounts set up by family...I guess it comes down to this:Are we worrying about nothing if it is non recourse? I assume all requests for financial can be ignored? Or is it better to keep the cash saved during the process in a "safe" place?
No worries on hijacking the thread. I don't mind at all. Keeps my thread more interesting.
Question for the group. I have my savings with another bank, but I use wells fargo to accept my direct deposits and pay bills and then move my money to another bank for savings. My mortgage is with Wells Fargo. Do you guys feel its important that I don't use Wells Fargo at all anymore. Its a pain to change all my bills to automatically withdraw from a new account and have my direct deposit go to a new account. 99% of my savings is in a different bank account, I just like using Wells Fargo for writing checks and paying bills (I'm currently a PMA member, but that won't last long :-)). What do you guys think?
IMHO - moving the money is better. While the majority of Foreclosures in WA state go the route of a trustee sale - they do not have to. The decision to use the trustee is based on a Cost/Benefit analysis. Putting your paycheck in the same bank demonstrates you have income/cash flow.
The large institutions have many instances where the right hand and left hand do not know what is happening - but you MAY be increasing risk by having your direct deposits and Mortgage with Wells. When a loan goes to referral they know the following items about you - the current state of the loan, the assets that you claimed when you applied for the loan, and what is on your credit report (Credit reports DO NOT list income, savings, investment accounts etc - they only list liabilities over time). Buy having your pay check in the same bank - you may be putting your hand closer to the fire than you would like.
Is a simple convenience worth giving the lender view into your month to month finances? Eye on the prize my friend, eye on the prize......
As of yesterday, my husband called BofA to stop the automatic payment on our TH. He told the rep that we will be sending in the payment via check. We pay our mortgage bi-monthly with $100 extra toward principal per month. The first miss payment will be on 8/10 and the second miss payment will be on 8/25. I'm a bit scared, but I can't wait to get out of the place. I'm glad that we're not alone in this mess.
We moved all of our money to another bank. By the end of this month, we will not have any money going in and out from our chase account. Should I close the account with Chase, since I don't need it anymore? BofA has only our Chase account information.
Should I have my parents open a saving/CD account with their bank so that we can put away our money? Will BofA be able to access or request information of our finance with another bank?
Should I go talk to the lawyer throughout the process?
Thanks everyone for such a great forum and discussion. This has been very helpful.
Do you live in Washington? If you live in Washington and only have 1 loan, according to my lawyer, the bank will 99.9% of the time just foreclose and you debt will be forgiven. Therefore BofA will not request financial info because they decided to foreclose non-judically. If you have a second loan, its gets a little more complicated and I would speak with a lawyer.
We live in Washington and I think because of your post, we went to see the lawyer that you mentioned.
We also have one loan, never able to refinance and never take out the second mortgage. For right now, I will continue to use my second bank for all of our direct deposits and bills.
I will post again as soon as I hear anything from BofA. I will probably need everyone advice and suggestions for the next 120 days.
There are many of us from WA on the boards. In WA you will have much longer than 120 days. By law it the time period cannot be less than 190 days from the first missed payment - and many are seeing it take much longer. The process does get easier as time goes on. Good Luck!
Another update.
First missed payment: 07/01/11
First phone call from bank: 07/19/11
I've avoided all calls to my cell phone and easily able to do so due to caller ID. Today, I answered the phone at my office and it was Bank of America calling, the first to my work number. This would be my first correspondance with the bank after starting to walk.
They asked of course when I would be able to make my payment. I carefully answered that due to personal circumstances, I do not know when I would be able to make a payment and understand that if I continue to miss payments, that they have to start foreclosure proceedings.
They tried to tell me about loan mods and assistance and I told them I would gladly read anything they sent me. They said they would only send information/application if I started the process over the phone. I told them I would not today (and I was at work anyways).
I proceeded to ask them questions about what I should expect next (they say I will receive a notice of intent to foreclose after I'm 3 months late). I asked them to kindly not call my work number anymore and did I need to send a "Cease and Desist" letter for that to take place. They said "no" and removed my work number from their contact list for me.
I asked them if I needed to expect that their representatives would be stopping by my residence. They said maybe...(I'm a little scared that they may change the locks on me-due to some stories from others on this board).
They proceed to provide me contact numbers for HUD and other assistance programs.
Lastly, I told the rep that he was "kind and pleasant" to speak to...and that I knew the conversation was being recorded.
I just want to say that it actually felt good to finally speak to someone even if it was just to say that I cannot pay you. There you go...
Just wanted to add...
That after actually speaking to a BofA representative who reached me at my work number (I've ignored all calls up until 2 days ago), that I haven't received a phone call since. Just to repeat, I asked the rep was it necessary to actually send them a cease and desist letter in order to have them stop calling my work number to which they said no, that they will honor my request over the phone. I haven't received a call since and even stated that my cell is the number to try to reach me only.
I finally got my first automated call from Flagstar Bank today, 21 days after my first missed payment.
First missed: 08/05/2011
No call so far. BofA has been sending letters to remind us of the due date of our mortgage before August (after my husband called them to stop automatic payment). Since then, we have not heard anything from them. I think BofA will start contacting us after missing the second payment in which will be in the beginning of September.
We also have received a letter from some law firm in Washington state that is involved in a lawsuit with BofA. The law firm suggested that we might be qualified to receive principal reduction, or interest rate reduction, etc if it wins. At this point, I think we will not contact the law firm since we already started our own thing.
Just wanted to keep everyone updated: I haven't heard anything other than the occasional door tag telling me the inspector came and looked at the house. Since the cease and desist letter was sent, there hasn't been one phone call. To be safe, I changed banks back to B of A. I still have my Wells Fargo account, but I just don't have any money go through there. I have just a little bit in there for emergencies. Other than that, its been a quiet August and July.
First missed payment: 5/1/2011
My first missed payment was 5/1/11 also. I had a representative on behalf of the bank knock on my door one day in July. She basically was there to ask me to call BofA and speak with a rep. I did call and spoke with a surprisingly pleasant rep and I told her she was welcome to send any info she wanted but I had done my research and was not interested in a mod. I let her know I planned on occupying the home until the sale date but was not going to make any other payments. Other than that I've had no contact with the bank other than the letters and loan mod packets they send me. No inspectors either. I blocked their number from my cell and that did the trick. I'm just waiting for the NOD.... Seems like its taking quite a while. Has anyone on here received theirs yet? I just wish I knew how fast (or slow) this is going to happen.
Imout- Have you received a Notice of Intent to Accelerate yet? I'm in WA (Kent) and am just starting my walk on 9/1 and was curious how slow/fast the FC process was taking recently.
I received my Notice of Intent to Accelerate letter at the end of June. I was looking through my papers and I did get a packet the end of July saying I was approved for a trial period under the Fannie Mae Mod Program (that I never applied for) maybe they are waiting on my response for that? Who knows...
Not an exciting update: Already missed two payments, but no calls. I logged into our mortgage account with BofA and they have charged us a late fee. That's all so far. Will continue our walk.
On Friday September 9th I got a letter from Flagstar that I am in default and that they would like to work with me to keep my mortgage in good standing. I really appreciate it Flagstar, but... no, I think I will continue walking.
I'm with BofA. North Seattle, WA townhome. Underwater $75+k...
First missed payment: 07/01/11
Notice of Intent to Accelerate dated 09/06/11 (default asked to be cured by 10/06/11).
I'm also have questions and am looking for feedback about handling money if walking on a 1st only mortgage. I've already disclosed my info to my bank trying to get a mod (submitted 3 weeks ago and "estimated 2 months before a decision". nice :S) and I only use one bank BECU for everything (except one of two car loans) so they already see everything. Part of my mortgage deal was requiring to do automatic payments through a BECU account. So I likely cannot cancel automatic mortgage payments. I believe, I hope, I read in our recent few days late payment, that if you're late once you'll only get that one fee and won't be charged any more fees for future late payments. I know every bank is different but any walkers out there with autopay continuing to get non sufficient funds fees? I would hate to get months-year of late fees for mortgage. Also one of our car loans is BECU (auto withdrawl from BECU account) and line of credit with them as well. I plan on continuing to pay these, although I think it would make sense to switch paycheck auto deposit to another bank then do cash deposits into my BECU account to pay the car loan and line of credit.?
I have Wells Fargo and I had automatic payments. I just canceled the automatic payments. You should call and do so. I've never heard of a bank not allowing you to cancel automatic payments.
Hi All. We started on July 1, 2011 (the same time as Kaopr1). How many of you have actually talked with the bank in person? How many have not answered their calls at all? We haven't answered any. In fact, we used google voice and then blocked the numbers. Now I am just wondering if you do more damage, place yourself more at risk, or just slow the process by not actually talking with anyone. For those w/ B of A, if you logged into the website to view your loan, did you mark an answer to the questions it shows because you are late? I've always said "no news is good news" but in this situation, I am not too sure. Thanks all!!
The only thing I have done to contact Wells Fargo is send a Cease and Desist letter. Since then, there has been no phone calls, some letters and the occasional door tag telling me a property inspector came by. I started this on 5/1/2011. I haven't got any official warnings yet, so I guess I still got awhile.
We haven't heard anything. Of course, our condo is not our primary.
Update:
We missed 2 payments and just received 3 phone calls from B of A. We have google phone number and we let the calls go directly to google voice mail. My question is, should we send the bank the Cease and Desist letter now?
Walked: 08/01/2011
First phone call from BofA: 09/20/2011 - Asked us to call BofA home loan rep at some 800 number
@oceantide
you CAN cancel autopay. we had an automatic payment through our becu account. they will tell you that the interest rate will increase, but it's minimal. there is a form on their website which you should fill and send them. just check cancel auto payment box. they'll send you coupons afterwards. it's not possible to cancel by phone.
i would withdraw all the money from the account(s) and close all accounts if possible. you are supposed to keep a membership-savings account to stay as a member (but don't quote me on that). if you don't cancel auto payment and continue to have multiple accounts (and keep money in them), they'll try to withdraw whatever they can from those other accounts. it happened to us.
@Martha Thanks for all the info Martha! I'm using your experience as our guide with BECU. :-)
I also have a condo and have to pay the maintenance fees(due to being "utilities"). If you don't pay them, they will sue you, add attorney's fees and put a lien on the place. The lien deters the bank from going through the foreclosure or deed in lieu process.
The taxes have to be paid, too, for the same reasons. But if you are having financial problems, you can apply for a discount on the taxes. Check with your county assessor about that and they will give you forms to fill out. If you have moved out and not renting to someone you trust, you can write to (email) each utility and shut them off, saving you electric, gas, water bills.
I have tried 3 short sales since 2009. All failed due to the bank taking so long to close the buyers walked each time. I am trying a deed in lieu now. There are two types of deed in lieu: regular, for one mortgage owed and HAFA deed in lieu for two mortgages owed and being in poverty, divorce, etc. If you aren't in a hardship, and have two mortgages, they usually won't do a deed in lieu. DIL are hard to get but you have to be persistent. If this doesn't work, I am not trying anything else while it goes to foreclosure---some day? The bank still hasn't sent any foreclosure letters even though I stopped payment in early 2009. If you haven't moved yet, stay in the place mortgage and rent free until it's over. But you might want to move out everything you can live without to a family member's home (rent their garage or something) due to some banks sending in people to "clean up" their properties and things get stolen. (I heard but it hasn't happened to me)
The 2012 tax relief may get extended with so many still going through this process.
Washington State
BofA loans (2)
You are right about closing all the bank accounts where your auto mortgage payment is made. If you don't, they will take it from another account. I did this and moved my money to a different where a manager stated to me (when I went to make a withdrawal at their bank) "we know what you are doing" loudly at the teller's window. I didn't answer her. Later that week, I withdrew all my cash from their bank and opened a new account at another bank. It may look suspicious but I didn't care. The banks are sharing information about your accounts and deposits, withdrawals and sending it to the IRS, by the way.
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