excessive "other" fees

[tiredofit]

hi! ok, i posted a couple weeks back about my getting an offer on my home at the last minute before the foreclosure sale. turns out, i thought i could make 10k after everything so i pursued stopping the sale, which i succeeded in doing because the lender, countrywide, never filed for relief against the stay and they didn't have a clue that i filed bankruptcy.

anyhow, after calling cwide for 2 weeks, i finally got a payoff today via fax. there is a category, other fees, tallying to over 2,000. i got another earlier payoff from 2 weeks ago (they both came to me today - one fax, one snail mail) , that listed 1846 as "other" fees. I am assuming these are legal fees. I emailed the foreclosure attorney who just responded with the fact that total of his fees will be less than 1500. so where are the other 500+ fees coming from? after it is all said and done, i will have 1,000 left in my pocket. I forgot about interest since i stoppped paying the note plust they have added these bigger fees than i expected. the realtor thinks he can get me 2500 walk-away cash from the closing. at this point, i think countrywide is overcharging somewhere and playing a game with me. should i walk? closing won't be for another 4 weeks so who know what else they will charge me as "other". once i sign the contract, i guess i am stuck???? If I knew they wouldn't charge me anything else as "other fees" i'd sign the deal. any tips??

thanks...

[Hot-Tod-E]

In four weeks there will be additional interest as well!

How long has it been since you made a payment? If it's 4 months or more and was included in the your BK, it's probably not worth it, if you are going to break even, or owe at closing because the foreclosure has likely already been reported on your credit report.

If you walk, you owe the bank nothing (as long as this mortgage was included in the BK).

What will you do if you get to closing and you end up owing? Will your realtor adjust his/her fee to make you whole?

[tiredofit]

yes, i have already calculated the interest...

it's been 7 months going on 8.....

and it is included in bk....

it just so happens that i got an offer at the very last minute.....

i have asked the realtor to put in the contract that i walk away with 2500 regardless.. we shall see.....

i fear, he won't do that necessarily, and that countrywide will find other fees to charge me and i end up with like 400$ or worse, owe. I am not sure what would happen then as far as the deal is concerned. It doesn't seem fair that I am at the whim of countrywide regarding the details as to how much i owe them. they should be able to tell me down to the dollar..... not surprise me out of the blue.

[Hot-Tod-E]

It sounds "iffy". If you could walk with anything then go for it. The foreclosure has already affected your credit rating, might as well get something out of it.

However, if there is any chance that you will owe at closing, walk. Countrywide could now file a motion for relief of the auto stay during the next 4-week period and will charge you for that as well. That alone can be $1,500-$2,000 (and it's a form letter). So you might want to find out if they intend to do that. (maybe I misunderstood, have you been discharged yet?)

[SinkingFast]

We just went thru what you're thinking about doing.

Same situation. Same Lender.

We'd missed 5, going on 6 payments when our Foreclosure Auction came up the Tuesday after Memorial Day. A week before, we took a last minute offer to sell our house ourselves instead of having a Foreclosure show on our Credit Reports. Our Foreclosure Tech called the Court House and cancelled the Foreclosure Auction the day the sale was scheduled to take place. CW gave us a 30 day "grace period" to get the house sold and closed.

When CW fig'd our pay-off for the sale, it was $8K more than the principal balance owed. CW had added all penalties, interest, late fees, and legal fees on top of our principal. When we closed, it wound up costing us over $500 out of pocket to get our house sold.

After all was said and done, I found out from Mortgage pros that post here in the Rebuilding Section, that we didn't really save ourselves anything. Once you're 150+ days late, prospective Lenders down the road are gonna consider it a Foreclosure anyway. Regardless of whether your Credit Reports show you sold yourself or not. AND,....... If your Foreclosure and BK fall together timewise, most protential Lenders down the road will view the 2 as one single incident anyway.

You can sell your house yourself if you want to gain some peace of mind. But you're not gonna gain any brownie points on your Credit with prospective Lenders in the future.

[tiredofit]

i was discharged 8/21....

they, countrywide, terminated the foreclosure sale that was set for 8/25.

i was under the impression, and so was my attorney, that the charges incurred up to the discharge date are voidable because their whole action of the foreclosure was voidable since it was illegal due to no motion for relief of the stay being filed.....

how can i get those fees to be voided? do i have to sue them or is there some magic bullet?