Include Mortgage or Not

[spearmint]

If my loan mod is approved and all is signed and finished before I file Chapter 13 AND I am current on payments, should I still include it in Chapter 13 - or not?

[EricaCallaha]

I don't think you get to choose. You have to list everything that you owe. Secured and unsecured. What does your attorney say?

[spearmint]

I don't think you get to choose. You have to list everything that you owe. Secured and unsecured. What does your attorney say?

I think I am still confused about this. He told me he needs to know everything I owe but I thought that was just to calculate my monthly payment to creditors. I told him the only thing I want to pay to the trustee is the unemployment compensation debt that I owe. Other than that, I want to pay everything else myself and not go bankrupt on it.

[EricaCallaha]

When you file, you do NOT have that choice. You bankrupt all or bankrupt none.

[spearmint]

When you file, you do NOT have that choice. You bankrupt all or bankrupt none.

Are you saying that the trustee makes ALL my payments for me - unemp comp, mortgage, homeowners ins., condo dues, utilities, etc?

[EricaCallaha]

Nope. Unemployment comp, arrears on mortgage, and credit cards, and such are paid by the trustee. Utilities and insurance and condo dues (current) are paid by you.

[EricaCallaha]

That is why your attorney wants to know what you owe. Then you have allowances for the other things (mortgage, food, utilities, gas, etc.) and he figures out how much you can pay into a plan.

[spearmint]

Nope. Unemployment comp, arrears on mortgage, and credit cards, and such are paid by the trustee. Utilities and insurance and condo dues (current) are paid by you.

Okay, so the only thing he would be paying for me would be the unemp comp. I have no credit cards in use - just debit card.

I thought that if I pay the other things they would not be included in the bankruptcy.

I was considering getting a credit card before filing but if it has to be included there's no point.

[EricaCallaha]

Yikes, don't do that credit card. If you run it up and then try to include it..it is considered fraud. Is the only debt besides your condo the unemployment comp?

[spearmint]

Yikes, don't do that credit card. If you run it up and then try to include it..it is considered fraud. Is the only debt besides your condo the unemployment comp?

Apart from very small ones (few hudnred here and there), yes

[EricaCallaha]

What is the few hundred here and there (the small ones)? Is it unsecured debt? Is it secured debt? Depending on what it is, it will be included too.

[spearmint]

A few hundred on electric and gas, a few to dentist. No credit cards.