need help on letting house go

[B65]

We filed Chapter 7 341 is next week. Need the mortgage payment incase we needed means test, we were not sure wether to keep house, anyhow hubby and I had long discussion last night. If the chapter 7 goes through ok, our mortgage(piti) payment and cars come up to 36% of our gross, so the mortgage lenders will not do a loan mod. Even though that figure is acceptable.... it is not to Hubby and me.. we want it lower... our piti payment is $2450 a month we want a payment of $1800 we want to up our retirement contributions and save 10% of our income a year so we set ourselves up great for our future. That is more important to us that the house.

ok my questions are..
next mortgage payment is due Dec 16th 341 is Dec 10..
if we dont pay any more payments on the house will this hinder our chapter 7? will the mortgage company notify the trustee, can they say oh well now you are not paying the mortgage we will make it a 13?
if it got made a 13 anyway because of other reasons what will happen to the payments missed and late fees?


2nd and last question....

From what i can see you have to have not paid for 90 days before they start foreclosure proceedings... will that 90 days start from dec or do they have to wait until my discharge (maybe early feb) before they can start counting as it was in bankruptcy...?

then after 90 days how long after should I expect to stay another 90 days?
we are in CT.
thanks for all and any answers....

B

[Help!]

(1) The means test includes the past six months. Your mortgage payment, even if you intend to surrender the home, WAS your housing expense. That is indisputable.
(2) We are doing exactly what you are contemplating. We no longer have a $2700 mortgage payment. We have an $1800 rent payment and a real savings for the first time in our 13 year marriage now that we're not drowning in debt. I can't even explain how incredible that feels.
(3) You amend the petition and explain to the trustee that when you filed you thought you could afford to keep the house, but you really can't. The trustee will probably agree with you on that point based on the numbers.
(4) Foreclosures seem to be taking forever across the country from what I've heard. I don't know about CT, but it's been 12-18 months from the last payment in our area.
(5) If you intend to surrender the house, the lender will probably file a motion for relief from stay so they can get the foreclosure process going.
(6) A 7 doesn't get converted to a 13 unless your income looks like it can support a 13.

[Doghouse]

Yes, what Help said. I have also not made a mortgage payment in 3 months and will not be filing till Feb '09 yet I will be able to use my mortgage payments for the means test. My attorney has validated this for me. Many people on this forum have validated the fact as well. So, no, you don't have to be current on your mortgage payments to use the expense on your means test. Or need it to prevent a conversion to chapter 13 if you are surrendering the house. I will also be giving up my house.

[okiemom2008]

(1) The means test includes the past six months. Your mortgage payment, even if you intend to surrender the home, WAS your housing expense. That is indisputable.
(2) We are doing exactly what you are contemplating. We no longer have a $2700 mortgage payment. We have an $1800 rent payment and a real savings for the first time in our 13 year marriage now that we're not drowning in debt. I can't even explain how incredible that feels.
(3) You amend the petition and explain to the trustee that when you filed you thought you could afford to keep the house, but you really can't. The trustee will probably agree with you on that point based on the numbers.
(4) Foreclosures seem to be taking forever across the country from what I've heard. I don't know about CT, but it's been 12-18 months from the last payment in our area.
(5) If you intend to surrender the house, the lender will probably file a motion for relief from stay so they can get the foreclosure process going.
(6) A 7 doesn't get converted to a 13 unless your income looks like it can support a 13.

so what happens if you paid the mortgage for 5 years but then 3 months before you filed you quit paying it..so of the last 6 months you only paid 3 months? Now I am worried because we stopped paying ours 2 months ago.

[B65]

Little worried about this?

"6) A 7 doesn't get converted to a 13 unless your income looks like it can support a 13."

surely if you miss 2 payments after your 341 , the trustee sees you have more income and then it can get converted?
B

[B65]

also Help...

was it easy to get a rental and were you happy with what you found? At what part in the Bankruptcy process did you not pay the mortgage?

B

[Help!]

so what happens if you paid the mortgage for 5 years but then 3 months before you filed you quit paying it..so of the last 6 months you only paid 3 months? Now I am worried because we stopped paying ours 2 months ago.

I don't have a definite answer for you there... we had missed only one mortgage payment when we filed.

[Help!]

"6) A 7 doesn't get converted to a 13 unless your income looks like it can support a 13."

surely if you miss 2 payments after your 341 , the trustee sees you have more income and then it can get converted?
B

No, strangely the trustee never asked what we were doing with the money that was not going to the mortgage, car payments, credit cards, etc. If your Schedules I and J are negative, it can be assumed that even without those payments it's difficult to make ends meet.

[Help!]

was it easy to get a rental and were you happy with what you found? At what part in the Bankruptcy process did you not pay the mortgage?

B

We began renting because we relocated and at the time we thought we'd be able to cover both the rent and mortgage payments. We are renting a brand new house in a neighborhood in which the builder has been unable to sell a single new home. We're very happy with it. We kept up with the mortgage payment as long as we possibly could, and when it became impossible we filed. We were about 1 payment behind when we filed.

[monkatom]

So my chapter 7 closed a few months ago. Decided I might want to walk away since mortgage is 4400 a month and I can rent a house for 2200 a month. Can i stop making paymnets and wait for foreclosure and save that money up since chapter 7 is closed and I did not reaffirm. i know my credit will get dinged but not much since I already did a BK?

[B65]

from my understanding

that's exactly what you can do...

B

[okiemom2008]

I don't have a definite answer for you there... we had missed only one mortgage payment when we filed.

Does it matter what your income is and bills are if you are under the means test? Do you have to be above the means test income level to be considered for a ch 13?

thanks!

[Tbornetun]

If you are already under the median in the first portion of the means test when you filed, then you are fine.

[okiemom2008]

If you are already under the median in the first portion of the means test when you filed, then you are fine.

.
Ok, that is great news. I was worried because right now we are paying only neccessities and it only ads up to like 50% of our income. So without all the payments we are probably able to do a chapter 13 but either way we are under the means test income but not my much