Bankruptcy dischared in '02 Mgt not reaffirmed

[brunob]

What is the name of your state? NJ
Ok...had a horrible Lawyer and experience! (not that claiming bk is a nice one lol) Claimed chapter 7 and it was discharded in Nov 2002...our lawyer never reaffirmed out mgt loan and we were never told anything about it until 2 years later. My question is this.....what good/bad does reaffirming do for me? We have kept our house and intend to keep it...the mgt company since the discharge has worked with us ...we are up to date on payments and are receiving statements etc...like everything is normal. Although we feel very uneasy about not being reaffirmed....should we be? Im assuming we need a lawyer to handle this? and can it be done at this late time? Thank you so much for your info...we have written a letter to the lawyer that handled our bk and he has pretty much written us off and told us he doesnt know what were talking about!

Beth

[bigun]

My personal opinion-it's never good to reaffirm a debt. Should your situation go south and you can't make your mortgage payments, you have no liability for a deficiency balance if you don't reaffirm.
It's far too late to reaffirm anyway.

[brunob]

ok then let me ask you this....what happens when I go to sell this home....what would be different...if anything....from someone who reaffirmed? Will the mgt co come along...find out Im selling the house and try to take posession?

[bigun]

Once your bk is discharged, you may do as you please with the property. If you sell, you'll owe the mortgage holder the amount due on the mortgage and the balance of the proceeds of the sale are yours to keep.

[brunob]

ok thanks so much bigun! But we do still feel a little uneasy about not being affirmed with the mgt co...but I guess that is something we will have to live with as a result of some bad decision making! For now we are on the right track...and both my husband and I are making lots more money! So we will keep our fingers crossed!

[Ladynred]

You have NOTHING to worry about, so stop being uneasy about this. You're actually in a BETTER position than most mortgagees in that if something bad happened and for some reason you couldn't keep the house, YOU can just walk away and there's not a thing the bank could do to you - because you did NOT reaffirm that mortgage.

As long as you make your payments and keep making them, the bank isn't going to do anything, they can't as they have no grounds. They don't want the house, the want the M-O-N-E-Y and that's the bottom line. As Bigun noted, nothing would change should you decide to sell or even refinance.

[brunob]

Thanks Ladynred....starting to feel a little better about this!

[brunob]

although....I do have one more question.....what if we stay in this house for the remainder of the mortgage....so now obviously the mgt amount owed is very low....who knows where the market will be then..but .....is there anyway the mgt co would come after the house since they would be able to sell the house themselves and make a very large profit? We are worried about the mgt getting so low that the mgt co. could stand to make a nice profit! Already with the way the market has gone, we could easily make 70k on this house if we sold it ourselves today!.....thanks!!!!!!!!!

[bigun]

I think you're manufacturing things to worry about. The lender has a security interest in your propertry as long as you have a mortgage. Only if you default will they be able to foreclose.

[brunob]

lol bigun....maybe we are....we just dont know much if anything about this "reaffirming" stuff! We feel like our lawyer led us down a dark narrow path and this is the only aftermath left from the '02 discharge......I guess it just boils down to that we feel uneasy not having a solid/legal deal with the mgt co. But we will take all of the advice you and Ladynred have given us and just move on....thanks again!

Beth

[Gregeney]

Your lawyer did the best thing for you. The only downfall is not making you understand what happened.

The mortgage co has a lien on your house that can be satisfied by you performing the terms of the mortgage. But you don't owe them a dime.

[Ladynred]

.is there anyway the mgt co would come after the house since they would be able to sell the house themselves and make a very large profit?

No, at that point you will have paid your obligations per the terms of your original mortgage agreement. They can't take anything - they got paid for it !

I guess it just boils down to that we feel uneasy not having a solid/legal deal with the mgt co.

But you DO ! The 'deal' is they have a lien via the mortgage and as long as you make the payments, you keep the house. That part has NOT CHANGED at all. Now, if you 'break' that deal by stopping your payments, then they have the right to foreclose just like they would had you NOT filed bankruptcy.

[turnkey803]

Is "re-affirm" and "re-assume" meaning the same in this case?

[Ladynred]

No, not really.