Recently divorced,Husband got house

[aloha0982]

I have a few questions for anyone that can help me. I filed for bk in 2003 and was discharded in Jan. 2004. My husband and I just finalized our divorce this month and I gave him the house in our divorce. He started paying the mortgage payments on the house when I moved out in May of 2004 and has been a month behind on the payment since. I would like to buy a house of my own in the near future is this going to be possible once I get my old house out of my name? How can I get my credit straightened out with all the negative reporting coming from the house that he now owns?

[HHM]

Ouch...but your a little behind the 8 ball on this one...you really don't have any grounds to dispute the negative reporting directly because the late payments are true and accurate even if you are not directly at fault. If you wanted to air your laundry, you could insert a "consumer" statement in your credit report explaining the situation. The statement does not directly reflect in your credit "score", but a creditor may at least look at it as a factor in determining your credit worthiness.

[aloha0982]

So I should not get my hopes up about getting house anytime in the near future? Thank you for your input! I am at the end of my rope here.

[HHM]

Lenders may be sympathetic if you explain your situation...when you do go house shopping, you will want to go to a Mortgage Broker and they will have more options for you (vs. a bank), but the unfortunate fact is, if you and your husband were joint debtors on the mortgage, and a payment was missed, that fact can be fairly reported on both credit reports.

This situation happens often in Divorce, for lack of financial understanding or bad advice, or whatever reason, one spouse will simply rely on the other spouses promise to continue to make payments on a joint asset (i.e. car or house) and not force the other spouse to buy them out.

The only way to remove a person from a loan is to PAYOFF the loan (or get the lender to agree to take off your name, but that almost never happens)...meaning one spouse generally has to buy-out the other with a refinancing of the loan. Simply being taken off the title isn't good enough. The only way for you to get off the hook on the mortgage note, is for your husband (former husband) to refinance the loan on his own.

Moreover, if your husband cannot qualify or otherwise afford to refi the mortgage loan to get your name off, then it is in your best interests to go back to court and get a court order to sell the house. Why? The worst case scenario is, if your husband cannot afford to make the payments and the home goes into foreclosue, guess who will have a foreclosue on their credit report, YOU.

[aloha0982]

I have tried for the past couple of months to get it refinanced in his name. NO One will touch it. He has 1 year to either get my name off the house or he has to sell it. To be quite honest I think he's not making the payments on time out of spite. I am trying everything that I can to get my credit back to normal but I don't anything is going to help until he is able to get that house out of my name.

[MTG_BANKER_OH]

I have tried for the past couple of months to get it refinanced in his name. NO One will touch it. He has 1 year to either get my name off the house or he has to sell it. To be quite honest I think he's not making the payments on time out of spite. I am trying everything that I can to get my credit back to normal but I don't anything is going to help until he is able to get that house out of my name.

You may be able to do something, this may git into FHA guidelines, considering a few other things if this is in the divorce decree for him to pay the loan. I think you may have a good chance. Does your husbank have any equity in the home that you used to live in.

[aloha0982]

I don't think that there is any equity in the house. I think the house has depreciated since I have moved out. He has not taken very good care of it. It is stated in my divorce papers that I am no longer liable for anything to do with the house and that he is to bring all payments up to date so that it doesn't affect my credit. I really don't know how much of a difference it is going to make since he has had a rolling late on the mortgage since May of 2004. Please let me know your thougths.

[HHM]

Well, if he is in violation of the court order, you could always make a Motion to the Court to hold him in Contempt of Court...you might be able to get sanctions and perhaps get an order to have the mortgage payment directly debited from his pay check (assuming he gets one).

[MTG_BANKER_OH]

I don't think that there is any equity in the house. I think the house has depreciated since I have moved out. He has not taken very good care of it. It is stated in my divorce papers that I am no longer liable for anything to do with the house and that he is to bring all payments up to date so that it doesn't affect my credit. I really don't know how much of a difference it is going to make since he has had a rolling late on the mortgage since May of 2004. Please let me know your thougths.

I think you need to find a good broker that can work on the loan for you, it does potentially fit into FHA guidelines assuming some other conditions are ok. The problem is if the home goes into foreclosure you are still going to be responsible even though there is a court order because the mortgage supercedes the divorce. You may be able to get into a new home through an FHA program assuming that the mortgage has not been extremely late, past 30 days, an dyou fit in to the qualifications for an FHA mortgage, since FHA is not credit score driven it is credit driven, and if you can explain itens on your credit it can help you since a person i s looking over your loan paperwork instead of a computer. Did you previousley have an FHA mortgage? The more I look into your situation you have just gotten recently divorced and the court order is just taken place, this may be a little tougher then I thought since you moved out but were not officially divorced until recently. So therefore you have been responsible for the payments until the divorce was finalized unless you have a previous separation agreement. This may be tough to get done until that house is out of your name.

[aloha0982]

The mortgage that he is taking over is an FHA loan. If I have to I will wait 3 years after he gets the mortgage out of my name to get a new house. I would really like to do this sooner because the apartment I am living in now has become low income and the neighborhood is getting worse by the day. I am trying everything to get my credit in good standings again. I have even start credit counseling to clear up anything that wasn't put on my bankruptcy ( there were supposed to be included in it but for some reason didn't get on there).

[lrprn]

I have even start credit counseling to clear up anything that wasn't put on my bankruptcy ( there were supposed to be included in it but for some reason didn't get on there).

If you filed Ch 7, aloha, check with a good bk lawyer. Some states consider debts that were accidentally left off the creditors list when you filed as discharged along the ones that were listed. Before you start paying back the overlooked creditors, ask 2-3 bk lawyers in your area during a free consultation if that's truly necessary in your situation. Good luck!

[MTG_BANKER_OH]

The mortgage that he is taking over is an FHA loan. If I have to I will wait 3 years after he gets the mortgage out of my name to get a new house. I would really like to do this sooner because the apartment I am living in now has become low income and the neighborhood is getting worse by the day. I am trying everything to get my credit in good standings again. I have even start credit counseling to clear up anything that wasn't put on my bankruptcy ( there were supposed to be included in it but for some reason didn't get on there).

I would look into something else besides credit counseling, CCCS is also considered similar to a BK 13 when it comes to loans. THey do not tell you that, if you have another way I would look into doing that first. You will not have to wait 3 years you may have to wait a year after it is out of your name to get another FHA loan but again it is all dependent on the documentation and credit. You can not have 2 FHA loans at the same time.