Reaffirm a mortgage? or not?

[InDebtInMD]

OK - my wife and I are sprinting towards the finish line here (objections due 8/15) and I had a few questions:

1. Is there any point to reaffirming our mortgage? The mortgage is current. I did notice recently that the lender (a sub-prime lender) had stopped sending me statements, and I've been making the payments online. Can they kick us out if we do not reaffirm, even if we are up to date? My attorney advised us NOT to reaffirm anything unless you 'get something in return'. We live in MD.

Are the statements likely to resume once the discharge is granted? I suppose I could give them a call... Saxon Mortgage, anyone here heard of or have any experience with them?

2. Same question, but for our van. Also current, never late. This note is held by the credit union, with whom we opened a checking account last month. I would think that if they had any sort of problem with us they would have denied us the checking account. Also, anyone know why this loan from the credit union does not show up on either of our credit reports? It's just not there.

thanks - I'm just trying to make sure I have all my bases covered here and make sure I don't get any nasty surprises.

[HHM]

If you are current on payments, you do not need to reaffirm. Like your attorney said, the only time to reaffirm is if they give you something in return, i..e lower the balance due, reduce interest rate, etc.

The only issue with reaffirmation agreements is how the creditor will report your account on your credit report, if you DO NOT reaffirm, they can report the account as "included in BK", even if you are current on payments (however, if they do that, you should still dispute it). If you reaffirm, and are current on payments, they should report the account as "paid as agreed".

[InDebtInMD]

thanks!

[nomorecredit]

"they can report the account as "included in BK", even if you are current on payments (however, if they do that, you should still dispute it)."

How do you dispute this if this happens? Is this easy to do and do they generally agree?

Thank you!

[HHM]

See the forum for Rebuilding Credit. But you write a dispute letter to each of the 3 credit reporting agencies (they each have instructions online: experian, trans union, equifax), disputing the entry. Afterall, you are making payments as originally agreed, but the legal status of the account is that it was included in BK, (because if you default after your BK is discharged, and you did not reaffirm, you will not owe anything to the creditor, i.e. any deficiency balance).

[CCareEvil]

Our lawyer thought that if you reaffirmed the mortgage, the company won't be so quick to foreclose if you ever had any problems making payments in the future. Plus I would assume it would help some with rebuilding credit. On the other hand, there is no real need to commit to that debt. There seems to be a difference of opinions on this matter. I know some attorneys never advise signing reaffirmations, while others say mortgage not a bad idea.

[InDebtInMD]

OK - thanks for the info.

My wife and I won't have any problems making the mortgage payments from here on out. Right now we end up using all 15 days of our grace period, but once we finish getting caught up on home and vehicle maintenance we should be able to build up enough of a reserve in the checking that we can get it in on the 1st.

Now, suppose something bad happens and for some reason the housing market in my area takes a dive, and I can not sell my house for what it is worth (not likely). By NOT reaffirming, would this mean that I would not have to eat any shortfall should the house not sell for enough to cover the balance on the mortgage?

For what it is worth, I have not been contacted by the mortgage company about reaffirming. WOuld they wait to do this until after the discharge?