We declared chapter 7 in Nov. 2009 - we were discharged in Feb. 2010. We filed due to a job loss. We live in the San Francisco bay area. Our house is worth rougly what the balance of the 1st. loan balance is (around $800k), so PNC was not about to foreclose anytime soon.
We had a 2nd and a home equity loan totaling roughly $500k (2nd =$400k, equity line = $100k). The loans were originally with National City bank, which was later bought by PNC bank. Our first, 2nd and home equity loans were all discharged in our chapter 7 filing. We continued to pay our first mortgage with BoFA. We stopped paying the 2nd. and home equity line with PNC prior to our filing chapter 7.
We made an offer with PNC for a lien release on the 2nd. and equity line in Oct. 2010 (it was actually 2 offers, one for the 2nd. and one for the equity line). We offered them $40k to release the liens on both loans (roughly 8% of the balance). They had a real estate person come and view the house. In addition we submitted financial information to them.They rejected the offers and stated they would accept $100k. We told them to close the file as we did not have $100k and they did not seem to want to come lower.
In June 2012 we submitted another offer for $70k (around 14% of the loan balance). This time they accepted the offer (they did not come back with a counter offer - they accepted our initial offer of $70k) and we paid them the $70k. I am going to make sure that they file a reconveyance with the county recorder to ensure the liens are released. They did not have a real estate person look at the house this time.
Why did they accept the second offer while they wouldnt negotiate below $100k on the first offer? I am not sure - maybe it was just the passage of time. One difference is that in the first offer we dealt with the short sale department, while with the second offer we dealt with the bankruptcy department - I am not sure if this would have made a difference.
So to those of you trying to do the same thing, there is hope, as in our case it may just take awhile. Psychologically, this was difficult because we have kids , like our house and the school district - this whole situation of not knowing if we are staying or will eventually have to move was very emotionally draining. In the end it was worth it for us.
We had a 2nd and a home equity loan totaling roughly $500k (2nd =$400k, equity line = $100k). The loans were originally with National City bank, which was later bought by PNC bank. Our first, 2nd and home equity loans were all discharged in our chapter 7 filing. We continued to pay our first mortgage with BoFA. We stopped paying the 2nd. and home equity line with PNC prior to our filing chapter 7.
We made an offer with PNC for a lien release on the 2nd. and equity line in Oct. 2010 (it was actually 2 offers, one for the 2nd. and one for the equity line). We offered them $40k to release the liens on both loans (roughly 8% of the balance). They had a real estate person come and view the house. In addition we submitted financial information to them.They rejected the offers and stated they would accept $100k. We told them to close the file as we did not have $100k and they did not seem to want to come lower.
In June 2012 we submitted another offer for $70k (around 14% of the loan balance). This time they accepted the offer (they did not come back with a counter offer - they accepted our initial offer of $70k) and we paid them the $70k. I am going to make sure that they file a reconveyance with the county recorder to ensure the liens are released. They did not have a real estate person look at the house this time.
Why did they accept the second offer while they wouldnt negotiate below $100k on the first offer? I am not sure - maybe it was just the passage of time. One difference is that in the first offer we dealt with the short sale department, while with the second offer we dealt with the bankruptcy department - I am not sure if this would have made a difference.
So to those of you trying to do the same thing, there is hope, as in our case it may just take awhile. Psychologically, this was difficult because we have kids , like our house and the school district - this whole situation of not knowing if we are staying or will eventually have to move was very emotionally draining. In the end it was worth it for us.
Bankruptcy Wizard
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