I'd like to put in my two cents worth here, if I may?
My husband and I went through a similar experience as yours described above. We were not originally intending to include our mortgage payment in with our Chap. 13 BK. We actually were not in arrears at all when we began the process of retaining an attorney, etc. There was a time a few months prior to actually filing when we did get about 3 months behind and had to cough up the money by borrowing from family, but that was before we filed for BK. We were able to get current by the time our BK was filed. Well, about 2 months after officially filing for BK, we were about 2 weeks late on our mortgage payment, which was being automatically drafted from our checking account (voluntarily). What happened was that our account got too low and a payment could not get authorized. So, I mailed off a partial payment and in less than a month, we received the dreaded motion for lift from stay from the mortgage lender! I was shocked and scared, to say the least!! I mean, we were not even one full month behind on our payment at the time! It turns out that the lender had to do this because legally, when you are in BK, NO LENDERS can contact you or even attempt to do so in any way, shape, or form!! This was their way of lifting the stay so that they could begin their process of contacting us and thereby, I am sure somewhere down the line, proceed with pursuing foreclosure if need be at some point. Personally, I thought they were being a bit too drastic at this point since we were not even 30 days late on a payment at this point. But, on the other hand, I guess since they already knew we were in a Chap. 13 BK, they knew we were a high risk anyway, not to mention our recent history with them and being 3 months past due at one point earlier that same year (despite getting caught up). In our case, we ended up having to include our mortgage payments in the BK plan. It was their way of protecting themselves. Also, keep in mind that during this time, we were continuing to mail them payments and they would NOT accept any form of payment whatsoever from us! They actually sent us back a personal check we had mailed them and even returned a cashier's check that we had delivered via certified mail directly to the lawyer representing the mortage lender! By the time this whole thing played out, we were technically in arrears by about 3 payments because the lender refused to accept any payments from us. So, since our mortage payments are now paid to the trustee, we still have 3 months in arrearage that will be paid off through the plan. All this was confirmed later at our confirmation hearing a few months later.
My husband and I went through a similar experience as yours described above. We were not originally intending to include our mortgage payment in with our Chap. 13 BK. We actually were not in arrears at all when we began the process of retaining an attorney, etc. There was a time a few months prior to actually filing when we did get about 3 months behind and had to cough up the money by borrowing from family, but that was before we filed for BK. We were able to get current by the time our BK was filed. Well, about 2 months after officially filing for BK, we were about 2 weeks late on our mortgage payment, which was being automatically drafted from our checking account (voluntarily). What happened was that our account got too low and a payment could not get authorized. So, I mailed off a partial payment and in less than a month, we received the dreaded motion for lift from stay from the mortgage lender! I was shocked and scared, to say the least!! I mean, we were not even one full month behind on our payment at the time! It turns out that the lender had to do this because legally, when you are in BK, NO LENDERS can contact you or even attempt to do so in any way, shape, or form!! This was their way of lifting the stay so that they could begin their process of contacting us and thereby, I am sure somewhere down the line, proceed with pursuing foreclosure if need be at some point. Personally, I thought they were being a bit too drastic at this point since we were not even 30 days late on a payment at this point. But, on the other hand, I guess since they already knew we were in a Chap. 13 BK, they knew we were a high risk anyway, not to mention our recent history with them and being 3 months past due at one point earlier that same year (despite getting caught up). In our case, we ended up having to include our mortgage payments in the BK plan. It was their way of protecting themselves. Also, keep in mind that during this time, we were continuing to mail them payments and they would NOT accept any form of payment whatsoever from us! They actually sent us back a personal check we had mailed them and even returned a cashier's check that we had delivered via certified mail directly to the lawyer representing the mortage lender! By the time this whole thing played out, we were technically in arrears by about 3 payments because the lender refused to accept any payments from us. So, since our mortage payments are now paid to the trustee, we still have 3 months in arrearage that will be paid off through the plan. All this was confirmed later at our confirmation hearing a few months later.
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