Can I negotiate a settlement w/o a missed payment?

[dharvell]

You make $95K a year... want to get out of the house you are in, but yet want to get further in debt by buying ANOTHER house? And you say what you are doing isn't stealing or trying to rip off your creditors? Not sure if you realize this, but by doing a short sale or allowing your current home to fall into foreclosure, you are stealing a TON from your mortgage writer. They lose their shirts in a foreclosure situation. I don't think you require legal advice. I believe you need a lesson in self-control and figuring out the difference between need and want.

[ecmst12]

Half the people who bought homes in the last 5 years are in the same place as OP, with huge amounts of negative equity, because the housing market is so screwed up, and the mortgage writers do share part of the blame for the market situation. This isn't the best way for OP to get out of the situation, but it's a way (hopefully he has purchased a less expensive house this time...if not, my sympathy is gonna fizzle!) that thousands are stuck with.

OP can at any time talk to a real estate attorney and get advice on short sales and how to proceed and what will be expected out of his pocket. You don't need to wait until the BANK will discuss it with you! That is probably the best way for you to find out how to get out of this mess with as little damage to your credit as possible.

Finally, the credit card companies have NO motivation to settle with you. They make less money if you pay off the cards now rather then continuing to rack up interest charges. If you were in default, then they are motivated to take a lump sum rather then nothing, but you have to be pretty far along in the default process for that to become an option. And since you have the means to pay, it's definitely dishonest to intentionally default on cards just to get a lower settlement amount.

[Zigner]

This guy has the means to continue paying on his current debt (you know, the debt he freely and willingly entered in to).

[VeronicaLodge]

unless he can't make the payment on the current house for some reason the negative equity means squat! he could just stay there, work his 95k job, pay on his mortgage and ride out the value of the house and pay off his freaking debt! but god forbid someone be responsible here.

i bought my house in 2006 and financed it 100% (two loans, luckily they are good loans with ok rates (not as good as today but...not sub prime loans or adjustable rate loans). i can easily make my payments, i have no idea what my house is worth right now and i really dont want to know because i'm not planning on going anywhere anytime soon so it doesnt matter. i might be even, i might have equity, i might have a negative equity situation but what does it matter right now when i'm just staying put?

thats what he should do

[crucifixion]

That is correct, I can not afford the old house. My June mortgage (just for my first) went up from $1600 to $2800, a $1200 increase. I made the payment this month as I didnt want the ding on the credit to affect my loan approval for the new house. Bought that house in 2005, and as a few mentioned, am in a position that many are...get a house they shouldnt have due to predatory lending practices. But thats neither here nor there. I am buying a new house that I can afford within my budget and I see no wrong in letting go of my old, unaffordable home, for an affordable one, with only a ding on my credit hurting me.

But the point of this thread was what to do with the $50K debt. A debt by the way is not due to living beyond my means. Thank you very much for judging me. Jeesh.

So I was trying to see, since my credit will get ding with the short sale/foreclosure, that IF it was possible to get a bank to settle my credit debt, then why not. It looks like its not really possible or it might be more trouble than its worth but its an option I wanted to explore. I still may consider it in a few months after the old house is gone. Otherwise I'll just pay about $25-$30K to pay down my $50K and just have a new home that is affordable and only have $20K in debt....as opposed to now which is an unafforadble home with $50K in debt.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by crucifixion

That is correct, I can not afford the old house.

That's not what you said before:

Originally Posted by crucifixion

I also make $95K a year, so I wouldn't say I'm in my eyeballs in debt. Its somethign thats always on my mind but I am making my payments on time and still have money for living. If I wasn't paying down my credit card debt, that money would just go to either savings or entertainment.

[Antigone*of*Greece]

Originally Posted by VeronicaLodge

OMG! you bought stuff for that 50k, you borrowed it and promised to pay it back, now its too much trouble for you? seriously? pay your effing bills!

why are you buying a new house when you already have one and are letting it go into foreclosure?

oh and as for your question about stealing? this pretty much answers it. 50k is what you are stealing. you bought 50k worth of sh*t and don't want to pay it back because you would rather spend your money on entertainment???? are you for real?

Veronica ~ I like the spunkiness!!! I've never seen you so riled up before ~ you go girl!!!

[dharvell]

If your payment went up $1500, it sounds like you financed using an adjustable rate (ARM). Ever consider refinancing your current home with a FIXED rate? Sure, you likely will not get money in your pocket, because of the negative equity issue that we're all faced with. But, if your credit is as golden as you claim it is, you should not have a problem refinancing your mortgage under a fixed rate. In fact, in many cases, those who were victim to predatory lenders were given the opportunity to do exactly that. I'd like to know why you didn't jump on that chance and save your home.

Me thinks there is a lot more to this story than what we're being told...

[debtcollector`]

If you look at his posting history -- he was first looking for advice on how to screw his creditor's on the house last year.

DC

[CourtClerk]

This was not a case of predatory lending like people would like to think. Someone who makes 95K/yr., has some kind of smarts (some, not a lot, but some). It's pure greed.

It was either an adjustable loan or interest only for a set number of years. Either which way, people should use some common sense in making their purchases (groceries or homes... same difference). Yes, the OP is an irresponsible thief and there is no other way to put it.

[crucifixion]

Originally Posted by Zigner

That's not what you said before:

You are mixing my apples and oranges together. I was referring to my credit card debt. I don't consider myself eyeballs in debt. I have been living this way for over a year now making my payments and living OK. Now I am buying a new house and technically, if I were to keep making full payments on both houses then yes i'd be eyeballs in debt, but I'm looking at my situation with the old house removed from the equation and just having the new house and my credit debt, which is very manageable for me. I came here to see if I could improve that manageable situation to a perfect situation by getting rid of most/all of the credit debt. If not, then fine, life goes on and I'll have a new house with around $20K debt and I can live with that. Thats not eyeballs in debt for my situation.

[crucifixion]

Originally Posted by dharvell

If your payment went up $1500, it sounds like you financed using an adjustable rate (ARM). Ever consider refinancing your current home with a FIXED rate? Sure, you likely will not get money in your pocket, because of the negative equity issue that we're all faced with. But, if your credit is as golden as you claim it is, you should not have a problem refinancing your mortgage under a fixed rate. In fact, in many cases, those who were victim to predatory lenders were given the opportunity to do exactly that. I'd like to know why you didn't jump on that chance and save your home.

Me thinks there is a lot more to this story than what we're being told...

Actually, it is a fixed rate, its just that over a year ago I stopped paying my property taxes on the house as I knew one day it would come to this where I would get out of this house and get a new one in todays market at fair value price, instead of the overpriced home I currently have. So the increase is due to the 1st mortgage being notified by the county of past due taxes and setting up an escrow account to collect property taxes going forward and back taxes not paid.

But this thread is not about what to do with the home, its about what options I have with the credit. If none, then fine. But I am exploring all my options.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by crucifixion

Actually, it is a fixed rate, its just that over a year ago I stopped paying my property taxes on the house as I knew one day it would come to this where I would get out of this house and get a new one in todays market at fair value price, instead of the overpriced home I currently have. So the increase is due to the 1st mortgage being notified by the county of past due taxes and setting up an escrow account to collect property taxes going forward and back taxes not paid.

But this thread is not about what to do with the home, its about what options I have with the credit. If none, then fine. But I am exploring all my options.

This guy's a troll folks.

[crucifixion]

Originally Posted by debtcollector`

If you look at his posting history -- he was first looking for advice on how to screw his creditor's on the house last year.

DC

I wouldn't put it so bluntly, but yes I was looking for advice on my situation. I researched and saw many people negotiating a settlement on their 2nd so they only had a 1st. So from a legal perspective, I came here to get "free advice" on what to do with my mortgages and see if anything was negotiatable like how I've seen others negotiate and close.

I don't understand your problem. So quick to degrade my character because, why? I am not breaking the law here. Maybe its not moral to you, but don't push your ethics on to me and degrade me because I don't live to your standards.

People here are accusing me of stealing, talking about me living beyond my means, or not wanting to pay my credit debt for things I got.

I came here because I see left and right all these "debt settlement" companies whether online or radio or tv ads and they all talk about settling your credit card debt for fractions of what you owe. So what of all those people that use those services? Are they scum of the earth too? I'd prefer to negiotiate my settlement on my own as I don't know which debt settlement company I can trust, so I came on here for advice on that. I know my options are limited, but I am going to explore all my options until I find one that satisfies me.

[crucifixion]

Originally Posted by CourtClerk

This was not a case of predatory lending like people would like to think. Someone who makes 95K/yr., has some kind of smarts (some, not a lot, but some). It's pure greed.

It was either an adjustable loan or interest only for a set number of years. Either which way, people should use some common sense in making their purchases (groceries or homes... same difference). Yes, the OP is an irresponsible thief and there is no other way to put it.

Well to be fair, when I bought the house in 2005 I was only making $52K. I really shouldn't have been in any position to afford it but I was given the loan. However, I understand your point.