FILING CHAPTER 13 Pro Per - Questions

[Character711]

Hello All,
I have been learning so much on this forum from the very knowledgable participants - THANK YOU.

My condo home is in foreclosure. I filed Chapter 13th June 25th to avoid a sale date of June 28th, 2010. They have rescheduled the sale for July 29th. 2010. In addition, I have filed a motion to impose an automatic stay.

My condo is upside down by 250,000.00. The 1st mortgage is unside down by $125,000.000 and the second by $118,000.00. I will be stripping my jr. lien. It is with the same bank as my 1st mortgage- Chase Home Finance.

I have called Chase to start the loan modification process - Chase wants to send me an authorization letter so that we can speak during BK 13.

I have a student loan that is from 1982. I have it listed on my priority claims. It has been in default and has been returned to the guarantor of the loan - Educational Collection Management Corporation (ECMC) It is for 42,000.00 The original loan was for $10,000.00. Over the years, I continued to put it on forebearance, hence the accumulation.

Questions:
In Pro Per, how do I serve my creditors with notices? Do I have to? What is the process?
How can I reduce my 1st mortgage to the market value?
Is there a way to get rid of the student loan - undue hardship if I pay it?
If so, what would the process be?
Is there a statue of limitation to collecting student loans? It has been 28 years.
What is the process to strip the jr. lien after I file chap. 13?
What is the process of getting the 1st mortgage to market value? Using the overvalued amount as unsecured debt?

My 341 meeting is July 30th. Much appreciation.

[momofthree]

Why are you choosing to file pro-se in a ch.13? Paying for an attorney in a chapter 13 normally doesn't cost much because you pay the fees into the plan payment and it just takes money away from your unsecured creditors. The payment is the same whether you use an attorney or do the work yourself as it's based on your DMI....

I can't really answer any of your questions except the 1st mortgage question. You cannot reduce your first mortgage to market value, but you can strip your 2nd mortgage if it's wholly unsecured.

[Pandora]

you cant cram down a 1st mortgage - the value is the value. You can only strip the 2nd if the homes value is less than the 1st mortgage amount; it cannot be $1 over what is owed to the 1st. Get a certified appraisal on the house, its the only way to know (we're going through this now).

As far as filing and then doing a loan mod - assume you're doing a 13 - so its best to wait until your loan mod is complete before filing, that way its set in stone what your payment is. Once you file your plan with your current mortgage, it cant be modded if you have arrears to it, you have to wait until you complete your plan to pay back arrears.

You should have already filed everything, notices to creditors, AP filing for stripping the 2nd, completed your pre-cert BK course, etc if you already have a 341 hearing. Havent you done all of that already? *gulp*

ETA: I agree with MO3 - I'd of hired an attorney, your case has some complicated variables I think

[SMinGA]

Alot of your questions depend on your district. The court clerk is good for procedural questions such as how to notify creditors, etc. Where I am, the court does much of that...

You cannot reduce the 1st mortgage to what the home is worth.

Stripping a lien is something you really should have an atty for. Other than the filing fees, you can normally hire an attorney without paying much upfront. FEes go into the plan.

Not sure that modifying the mortgage now will accomplish anything? Let's say you are proposing a plan of $1,000 a month and have a mortgage of $1,800 and $10,000 in arrears. The arrears would be paid within the plan. Modify to amortize the missed payments, maybe get the rate adjusted slightly, so mortgage payment goes down to $1,500 and plan payment goes up to $1,300. But now instead of mortgage arrears, you're paying more to unsecured creditors AND you've increased the principal owed on your mortgage making you more upside down.

The difference of hiring an atty? They do the work, and part of that payment (the theoretical $1,000 in my example) pays the atty fees leaving less $ for unsecured creditors. You still pay out the same.

If you're over $100k upside down even with a lien strip, why are you keeping the home???

No clue on the student loan questions, by the way. Would be useful to have an attorney answer those... Except I am certain it is NOT a priority claim. It does not get discharged, but its actually just an unsecured debt that you must continue to pay after the case is over.

You probably cannot get an atty to step in and help you with this case. But if there are no adversarial filings from creditors/trustee (and at this point there should not be) then you could petition the court to dismiss without prejudice (I think I've got the wording right, the one where you can refile at any time) and hire an attorney.

If you insist on going it alone, you might find it useful to get access to PACER and scan thru a few ch. 13 filings. Might have a hard time finding a situation similar to yours, but at least you'd have some examples to go on.