Trustee fees 9.8% AZ

[arizona native]

Okay here is the question. We are currently in month 54 of 60 chapter 13 BK. We had our "stay" lifted because we got behind on post petition mortgage payments. Have paid all post petition arrearage to mortgage company this week. They stated they will put the stay back in place and the remainder of payments owing thru BK will be back in with the BK. I have the funds to pay them directly the amount owing that was originally included in BK. If I have them NOT put the stay back in place, can I 1) pay them what was originally included in BK directly? 2) save myself the $ the trustee would charge me which is 9.8% of amount owing, which his portion would be almost $800.00. Or do I have to pay the trustee his portion of the amount origianlly included even if payment is NOT distibuted through him? Trying to save myself some $ here. My "attorney" has been less than helpful providing any answers and really doesn't seem to care about getting me any answers. He keeps telling me he has no idea what is going on with my case and transfers me to his secretary (who is not an attorney or even a paralegal) to give me answers and advice. HELLOOOOO, what the heck?

Thanks so much for any insight or answers.

 

[Gregeney]

When the Stay was lifted, was there anything in that Order that removed your mortgage payments from the Plan? I assume from your wording that the mortgage was originally part of the Plan payment. And I don't see that that has changed.

Regardless, if you wish to amend your Plan at this late stage, I suppose you could. But, it might not be worth the hassle.

 

[arizona native]

When the stay was lifted the mortgage company lumped the amount in the BK and the post petition amounts together as owing and due. On the trustee website where I can view case activity such as claim summary, what is still owing, etc it shows the original claim amount but under still owing it is zeroed out. The mortgage company told us that if we could pay the post petition arrearage they would put the stay back in place and let us pay the remainder through the remaining BK period. We sent the post petition arrearage to the mortgage company on Monday but have the funds to pay it all to them, I just figured why not pay it now directly to them and cut out the $800 trustee fee which would be 9.8% of what was still owing. Does my explanation make any sense? Hopefully it does.

 

[Gregeney]

Yes, I understand what you are hoping to do. What I would do is to call the trustee's office and confirm the changes to your plan as a result of the lifting of the stay. Also confirm your monthly payment amount. But it is unclear how you got behind on post-petition payments to the creditor if they were paid through the Plan. In any case, a call to the trustee should make things clear.