When do we start making our house payment on our own??

[bam531]

Hi everyone!! Our house payments are being paid through our trustee..we are at the end of our 13 ( just waiting for trustee to review case for closing and stop wage garnishment) ....we are wondering will the trustee give us enough notice telling us when to start making our house payments on our own again?? So far we have over paid $1500.00 to trustee, so guessing she will make payment for July ( if she hasn't already) and possibly August. Has anyone else had this situation? If so, how much notice were you given? Unless she stops wage garnishment..the house payment is going to be hard to come by....we can do it..but we need time to pull it together...Thanks!!

[justbroke]

You need to start making your house payments as soon as you stop paying through the Trustee! This is a common problem in Chapter 13s and gets some debtors into trouble with the lender. I call it the "interim" period. That's the time between completing the payments in the plan and then the actual discharge/close. Don't fall into the trap where some debtors forget or don't think they need to pay until the case closes/discharges.

Also, if this was your last payment, your attorney should have already submitted a Motion to Vacate Wage Deduction Order so that the deductions would stop either right at or after the last payment to the plan. Many debtors come on here -- myself included -- complaining that the wage order was never vacated and the Trustee is still taking money. Even though the money is going to the Trustee, the Trustee has stopped making payments!

I would get in contact with your attorney first thing on Monday and sort this out! Make sure you ask about the Wage Deduction Order being vacated. Make sure you ask about that because your attorney might assume the Trustee does it, and many Trustees will not do it! There is actually a process to shutdown a Chapter 13 and I hope you and your attorney are already taking the steps. Most Districts have some sort of affidavit that must be filed and some require the Debtor to actually motion for entry of the discharge order.

If you are pro se, then you need to quickly learn about how to spin down a Chapter 13.

[bam531]

Thanks for your suggestions. I have emailed attorney and have received a reply back from them this morning..here is the first line of the email .."I don't know; sometime times the Trustee closes cases the same month she expects you to resume mortgage payments, which is always difficult for our clients."
This is the first time we have ever received an email back from our attorney that they do not know the answer!! So in other words..we could get a letter from trustee stating that we are to make the house payments starting on August 1. ( which will be difficult if she is still taking wage garnishment) Attorney states that trustee is in charge of vacating wage order....which has not been filed yet. Trustee does not have a direct email address for us to email her, everything has to go through the attorney. We have not even taken the post debt management course that is required...attorney stated that we have to wait on trustee to tell us when to take it. We are trying to be patient because we know this takes a while...but we are beginning to wonder what we do next...

[justbroke]

Exactly. Perhaps your attorney should find out the process and contact the Trustee's office so that you are not in the dark about the payments! Additionally, ask the attorney about the Wage Order and how to shut that down.

Stay on top of this, or you'll be posting about how it has been months and the Wage Order is still in place and you can't pay your mortgage. Another forum member had this same issue quite recently. It may take "a while" but if your attorney is complacent and the Trustee is ho hum... we could still be reading your posts weeks from now concerning this same topic.

[HHM]

Bam531

Actually, most chapter 13's rarely go to conclusion, and keep in mind, it is 5 years later. Very few attorneys ever hear from their clients at this stage in the case, so I don't think it is out of the ordinary for the attorney not to know.

Also, keep in mind, your fee agreement, and even the US Trustee minimum requirements, normally don't require your attorney to do anything at this point in the case. But, it doesn't hurt to contact your attorney.

[justbroke]

HHM, I think your point is very topical. I wonder what the percentage of completed Chapter 13 cases where the attorney is no longer with the original firm and no one seems to "remember" the case. Chapter 13s are indeed special in that they go on for years without anything -- but plan payments -- really happening.

I can see how it could be quite easy for an attorney/firm to literally forget about the case after 5 years.

[HHM]

The issue though, is you have a debtor with all these questions about what happens at the end of a plan. Unfortunately, the answer is the same to all of those questions, the trustee will get to it when he gets to it. There is not much, if anything, your attorney can do about it. (unless things really go off track).

However, to the OP's question, just apply common sense. You know when your plan will end (it should be stated in the plan), so, the next month, start making your payment.

[ValleYum]

The OP's comment about his attorney's statement regarding the debtor education class is kind of weird to me...

attorney stated that we have to wait on trustee to tell us when to take it

[LadyInTheRed]

[QUOTE=ValleYum;576110]The OP's comment about his attorney's statement regarding the debtor education class is kind of weird to me...


I find it weird too. My understanding is that you can take the class any time after filing and before discharge. I took mine not long after filing just to get it out of the way and my attorney filed the certificate of completion with the court.

[kiheimer]

My case might not be the norm: but by the time witholdings were stopped I had
enough money in my account to make the next two house payments. Once wage
garnishmnents stopped I put the next two months pay directly to savings. I was
concerned about what kind of notice I would recieve too but it worked out pretty
well for me.

[bam531]

Yes, it does sound weird..but that is what the attorney keeps telling us. They will let us know when to take the course. so guess we wait and see...

[
QUOTE=ValleYum;576110]The OP's comment about his attorney's statement regarding the debtor education class is kind of weird to me...


I find it weird too. My understanding is that you can take the class any time after filing and before discharge. I took mine not long after filing just to get it out of the way and my attorney filed the certificate of completion with the court.