We don't want to loose our House! Please help us!

To revise my story. We live in Texas. My husband and I purchased a house 3 years ago with nothing down. Somehow our foolishness and slow past credit got us an outrageous interest rate of 14.7%. The mortgage company did not include property taxes or insurance in our loan payments. We have asked the mortgage company to refinance us but they say we don’t make enough money!

Our troubles began the week we moved in our new house and really have not stopped since. Here is just a sample of what our financial problems have been in the last 3 years:

· husbands hours were cut that week.
· 11 months later our daughter was critically injured in the Christmas Church Bus accident in Colorado (was on CNN).
· Our youngest son was traumatized from almost loosing his sister in that accident and had to see a psychologist for several months.
· I injured my back at work and was fired because I was not able to go to work. I was listed as disabled from my doctor, but the boss didn’t care.
· Our truck was repossessed leaving us with one vehicle.
· Then the transmission went out of that vehicle and we replaced it.
· Then the engine went out and we replaced it.
· The day we got it out of the shop, it flooded in Houston Texas and our car was totaled.
· We only had liability insurance on it so we were left with No vehicle.
· I went to work at home for a web directory and worked for 2 months. The owner refused to pay me because he said that he had his own financial problems. (that’s another story).
· Our home owners association sent us a letter 2 months ago telling us we had 10 days to replace our roof our they would start foreclosure proceedings on us for breaking the bylaws. We replaced the roof.
· We purchase a used truck last month and my husband and son were sandwiched in between 2 cars. Luckily we learned from the last time and had full coverage. The insurance company wanted to total it but we would not let them. The damage was not that severer, so they fixed the truck and then
· 2 weeks after we got it out of the shop the transmission went out and it will cost over $1000.00 to fix it..
· We purchased another used car from a friend and we have had several problems with it and now
· the car needs 2 new fuel pumps that cost 120.00 each.

Once again our finances went down one month before Christmas due to my husband’s job (oil related) he has been at this job for 27 years and is afraid to quit and find another job, and I am home schooling our youngest child (this was not by choice) and also have 2 children in college.

We are 1 year behind on our property taxes and the school district and mud district have filed a lien on our property. We are now 2 months behind in our mortgage. We are at the end of our rope and are thinking about filing bankruptcy. We are down to 1 car that works half the time.

· If we file chapter 7, how long do we have till the mortgage company takes our house?
· Does this stop the suite filed by the school district and mud district?
· If we file chapter 13, does this make the mortgage company lower our house payments and interest?
I am mentally exhausted and don’t know where else to turn. We do not have enough money to hire a lawyer and we make too much to qualify for legal aide! I don’t know what to do, we really don't want to loose our house! If you can help me please give me some advice! Thanks[b]

[vrzirn]

You can start by stopping the economic out-patient care for your adult children. Let the college kids get their own loans and part-time jobs. The other adult should be on his or her own. You are not doing them any favors by continuing to support them.
If home-schooling the youngest is truly your only option then maybe a part-time job could be managed by you.
You really do need to discuss this with a professional to help you out of this morass. Although you want to keep your house it may be you never could really afford it in the first place. Perhaps a BK and starting over is your best choice. Good luck.