WAMU/CHASE heloc settled

[chasewinner]

First, I would like to thank everyone in this forum. I have to say that a big part of my success with the settlement was thanks to all the ideas provided by reading the different stories here and hopefully Im able to do same by posting mine.

To make it short, I had a 163K Heloc which with late fees (7 months of not paying) and everthing was close to 165k. I was able to settle for 15% ($24500) I dont want to discuss why i was behind on my payments, but i can say that I knew unless i got rid of the heloc I could not keep the house. My current income will only allow me to pay the first mortgage (with Coutrywide/Bank of America). I first stopped paying the heloc and then the following month stop paying the 1st mortgage. Although, I could pay the first I didnt since I read somewhere that unless I was in foreclosure, the 2nd will not probably settle (big risk, but it worked).

So, after I ran into the 90 days of being late;WAMU started calling me. First, they would offer to modify temporarly my payment. Since, I had read in this forum that I could offer to settle for as little as 10% i told them that was my offer. The inital guy told me that was not possible, that could only be done later (I think he mentioned the retention department). They kept calling and I would repeat the same thing. One day finally, someone told me to send the hardship letter, and last 2 paystubs. That was back in mid september. She told to wait two weeks and that someone would call me back. I actually waited 3 weeks and no one called. When i called them they said the documents were not received and that it was showing as a short sale. So, I sent again my hardship letter with my offer of 10%, 2 paystubs but his time she wanted to see where the money was coming from ( I told them it was from my 401k retirement funds). This idea even though it wasnt true I got it from another posting. After refaxing evertyhing again, they said someone would be assigned to the file (they called him the closer agent). I learned that you had to keep calling them, so after 1 week someone was assigned and I got his name. Then i waited 2 weeks (the time they told me was normal for him to review everything). He didnt call me, so when i called they gave me his extension. The extension was not the right one, so after three days of calling everyday finally someone got me the right extension. When I got to speak to him I could tell he had not looked at the file, so he briefly looked at the documents while over the phone. We talked about the 10% offer, he said it was far from what they would take (35-40% according to him). Then he said the minimum offer he could submit was a 20%, I said NO since I really didnt have that much. I told him the max I could do was a 15%. We hanged up and 5 mintues later he called me and asked a couple more questions and then said he would submit my 15% offer. After two days he callled me and said they were accepting my offer and that I had until the 29th to send $24500 and sign the agreement he faxed me.

Yesterday I went to the branch and made the payment. Now, Im done with CHASE and Im able to keep my house!!

As for Bank of America, I ordered a reinstantment amount and ironically I will need to withdraw part of the money from my retirement fund to get current with them. But at least Im able to stay in my home with my kids and husband.

The lesson here is to insist, call them everyday if you have to. It seems there are so overwhlemed that unless you call them they wont look at your file. Again, thanks to all for showing us how to write a hardship letter and other ideas.I read this forum for hours during all these months and im grateful that i found you all.

[Evan Bedard]

Congratulations Chasewinner on the settlement!

[amyinflorida]

Originally Posted by chasewinner

First, I would like to thank everyone in this forum. I have to say that a big part of my success with the settlement was thanks to all the ideas provided by reading the different stories here and hopefully Im able to do same by posting mine.

To make it short, I had a 163K Heloc which with late fees (7 months of not paying) and everthing was close to 165k. I was able to settle for 15% ($24500) I dont want to discuss why i was behind on my payments, but i can say that I knew unless i got rid of the heloc I could not keep the house. My current income will only allow me to pay the first mortgage (with Coutrywide/Bank of America). I first stopped paying the heloc and then the following month stop paying the 1st mortgage. Although, I could pay the first I didnt since I read somewhere that unless I was in foreclosure, the 2nd will not probably settle (big risk, but it worked).

So, after I ran into the 90 days of being late;WAMU started calling me. First, they would offer to modify temporarly my payment. Since, I had read in this forum that I could offer to settle for as little as 10% i told them that was my offer. The inital guy told me that was not possible, that could only be done later (I think he mentioned the retention department). They kept calling and I would repeat the same thing. One day finally, someone told me to send the hardship letter, and last 2 paystubs. That was back in mid september. She told to wait two weeks and that someone would call me back. I actually waited 3 weeks and no one called. When i called them they said the documents were not received and that it was showing as a short sale. So, I sent again my hardship letter with my offer of 10%, 2 paystubs but his time she wanted to see where the money was coming from ( I told them it was from my 401k retirement funds). This idea even though it wasnt true I got it from another posting. After refaxing evertyhing again, they said someone would be assigned to the file (they called him the closer agent). I learned that you had to keep calling them, so after 1 week someone was assigned and I got his name. Then i waited 2 weeks (the time they told me was normal for him to review everything). He didnt call me, so when i called they gave me his extension. The extension was not the right one, so after three days of calling everyday finally someone got me the right extension. When I got to speak to him I could tell he had not looked at the file, so he briefly looked at the documents while over the phone. We talked about the 10% offer, he said it was far from what they would take (35-40% according to him). Then he said the minimum offer he could submit was a 20%, I said NO since I really didnt have that much. I told him the max I could do was a 15%. We hanged up and 5 mintues later he called me and asked a couple more questions and then said he would submit my 15% offer. After two days he callled me and said they were accepting my offer and that I had until the 29th to send $24500 and sign the agreement he faxed me.

Yesterday I went to the branch and made the payment. Now, Im done with CHASE and Im able to keep my house!!

As for Bank of America, I ordered a reinstantment amount and ironically I will need to withdraw part of the money from my retirement fund to get current with them. But at least Im able to stay in my home with my kids and husband.

The lesson here is to insist, call them everyday if you have to. It seems there are so overwhlemed that unless you call them they wont look at your file. Again, thanks to all for showing us how to write a hardship letter and other ideas.I read this forum for hours during all these months and im grateful that i found you all.

So where you late on your first mortgage? If so how many months? Also, are you in a re-course state? Any info will be helpful to me.
Thank you!

[chasewinner]

Sorry i took this long to reply. The Holidays!!
Im in Miami, FL. Yes, I was 6 months late on my 1st with Countrywide/BA. However, I did it because I knew otherwise they would probably not settle unless they thought the house was going to foreclose. CHASE kept checking my credit report ( i was monitoring myself). Also, they would ask me what was going on with the 1st and i always told them it was in the foreclosure department.

[amyinflorida]

Thanks so much for the info. Congrats on your success with your settlement!

[RE Drama]

Chasewinner, would you mind posting the phone number to the department you were in contact with during the settlement process? Thanks!

[gwenny]

CONGRATULATIONS on your big, big win!!!

Couldn't you sometimes just CRY while reading these forums?? I feel like such a loser (no other word for it) while all of my friends are buying RVs and having them modified at the same place Kid Rock got his done!! OK, just my current example of how I screwed up along the way.

Don't worry, I like beating myself up.

Anyway! Here's my situation and maybe you'll see why I was so excited to read your post.

1st with MoreEquity; 2nd with Wells FRAUDgo. Same as you - couldn't afford to pay 2nd. Tried working with Wells over several months. Our terms didn't meet in the middle & I stopped paying.

Got served with papers last Wednesday (1/20) that Wells' attorney in our state has a lawsuit against us for the $92K HELOC + $23K attorney fees!! (wth)

We are nearly current with our 1st as Morequity has done a decent job of working with us. Spoke with an attorney yesterday who was trying to guide us towards Chapter 7. OR I can call the attorney for Wells and see if we can strike some sort of a deal. I guess they would look at it as, "they file bankruptcy & we get nothing" OR "work with these people and get something back for our trouble."

Suggestions, thoughts, links appreciated.

Thank you to whomever may be reading.

[triplesmiles]

Congrats ChaseWinner. I am just starting process with Chase. I have a few more questions. Do you have a contact number for Chase? Are you still lurking on the site? I would love to hear more. Thanks.

[chasewinner]

The number i would call is 866-284-7610, which i believe is their retention department. I know they were in Tampa and I know for sure that my negotiator didnt look at the file until i got him on the phone. I just called him back, since I didint receive a 1099-c like he told me. He wasnt sure which dept. would should send these 1099. Still checking on that.

[praying]

Congratulations! Now I'm very hopeful to get a settlement on my HELOC with Chase too. We just hit the 90 day late, but so far have been offered nothing.

[caldwellb02]

gwenny - Okay - first off, I am not an attorney, so this is just what i think I know but you should check it out. Is your home worth less than your first mortgage? If it is, I wonder if you should call Well's bluff. If they threaten to foreclose on you and the second is subordinate and the house is worth less than the first, then hey you could just tell Wells you will walk away and they will get NOTHING. Of course that depends on your state's foreclosure laws, but if you are a non-recourse state I do believe that is the way it works. Maybe then they'd come to the table with another offer for you.

[HopingtoFind]

Originally Posted by gwenny

CONGRATULATIONS on your big, big win!!!

Couldn't you sometimes just CRY while reading these forums?? I feel like such a loser (no other word for it) while all of my friends are buying RVs and having them modified at the same place Kid Rock got his done!! OK, just my current example of how I screwed up along the way.

Don't worry, I like beating myself up.

Anyway! Here's my situation and maybe you'll see why I was so excited to read your post.

1st with MoreEquity; 2nd with Wells FRAUDgo. Same as you - couldn't afford to pay 2nd. Tried working with Wells over several months. Our terms didn't meet in the middle & I stopped paying.

Got served with papers last Wednesday (1/20) that Wells' attorney in our state has a lawsuit against us for the $92K HELOC + $23K attorney fees!! (wth)

We are nearly current with our 1st as Morequity has done a decent job of working with us. Spoke with an attorney yesterday who was trying to guide us towards Chapter 7. OR I can call the attorney for Wells and see if we can strike some sort of a deal. I guess they would look at it as, "they file bankruptcy & we get nothing" OR "work with these people and get something back for our trouble."


Suggestions, thoughts, links appreciated.

Thank you to whomever may be reading.

The most important question is are you upside down on your mortgage? If your property is worth less then your 1st, then I highly doubt that 2nd will foreclose.
Also, be careful who you talk to as far as advice. If you talk to BK attorney, guess what they will always push BK, because that is how they make their money.

I would assume you're in recourse state from your description of attorney actually filing a lawsuit. States that go through judicial foreclosure are generally recourse, meaning they could pursue you for deficiency.

[auroraproblem]

Originally Posted by gwenny

CONGRATULATIONS on your big, big win!!!

Couldn't you sometimes just CRY while reading these forums?? I feel like such a loser (no other word for it) while all of my friends are buying RVs and having them modified at the same place Kid Rock got his done!! OK, just my current example of how I screwed up along the way.

Don't worry, I like beating myself up.

Anyway! Here's my situation and maybe you'll see why I was so excited to read your post.

1st with MoreEquity; 2nd with Wells FRAUDgo. Same as you - couldn't afford to pay 2nd. Tried working with Wells over several months. Our terms didn't meet in the middle & I stopped paying.

Got served with papers last Wednesday (1/20) that Wells' attorney in our state has a lawsuit against us for the $92K HELOC + $23K attorney fees!! (wth)

We are nearly current with our 1st as Morequity has done a decent job of working with us. Spoke with an attorney yesterday who was trying to guide us towards Chapter 7. OR I can call the attorney for Wells and see if we can strike some sort of a deal. I guess they would look at it as, "they file bankruptcy & we get nothing" OR "work with these people and get something back for our trouble."

Suggestions, thoughts, links appreciated.

Thank you to whomever may be reading.

Not sure if this will reach you in time; you should consider a chapter 13 if your home is worth less than your first. Sounds as though you are in recourse state, if you have a job, they may be using this as a method to get all that they can (knowing they could loose it all).

You need to make sure that beyond a shadow of a doubt that your home is below the first in value (have an price opinion done or full appraisal). Make sure that zillow agrees (is not required, but just another tool). Once you know all these to be below then talk with a good attorney (talk to several, 3 at least). Make sure you specify that it is a lien strip you are after (that is all you should state, if they know their stuff they will fill in all the gaps for you, if not, walk away).

I recommend this measure only if you want to keep the home. I am not sure about the chapter 7, I state this because it will get rid of that impending judgement; however, the lien will be in place (only leaving you to deal with them years down the line).

I went through the chapter 13 against Wells Fargo and performed a lien strip, yes BK sucks, but our family now breathes much easier and long term we are in much better health financially.

Good luck!

[isitbuss]

If WF files a lawsuit and gets a judgment, then they can go after your other assets. That is the purpose of Ch7 or 13 BK filing, so just being upside down does not protect you. That is my fear if you send in a financial package to them for settlement. They know how much you have and where it is.
Has WF sued anybody in CA?