Thread: Need help dealing with mortgage co. while in chap 13

I need help. My financial situation has become dire. I have been in Chapter 13 bankruptcy (CP13) for 2.5 years after my divorce left me the house, but all the debts as well., which I have been paying monthly.

At the time of filing my Mortgage company (MC) was only owed one payment, this was added to the cp13 plan, and has already been paid in full.

My MC changed hands about 2 years ago., and the month they changed over, they did not recieve my monthly payment of $700, even though I sent it. The check was never cashed or returned to me., and due to the bankruptcy laws, they could never send me a late notice etc.. and all I ever got was the standard monthly payment coupon like everything was fine.

I was foolish financially, and never realized that the check was not cashed, until almost a year later. When I recieved my escrow analysis, which showed an overage of $500, and a new reduced monthly payment. When I called my MC to ask about a check, they explained that due to the cp13, I would not recieve a check, and the funds they were holding were not "usable funds" and started laughing an evil Halloween laugh (ok I made up the laughing part).
I then said that was my account was current, The MC went on to say that it was not. which led to me finding out about the missing month, however it made no difference, I was not getting the funds due to the cp. 13, not because of a default.
Plus to top it off, they said becasue of the cp13, my payment would stay the same, and not be reduced, therefore, I would be throwing additional "unusable" funds into the escrow all year.
Not wanting to lose my house, I did as they said., However the following year when I got my escrow analysis, of course their was double the overage ($1000) so now, it's a total of $1500.

I finally had sense enough to call my cp13 attorney, who put me in touch with a legal aide. (he got paid already and couldn't be bothered) She instructed me to make 12 copies of the escrow analysis with the new lower payment on it, and send that in every month., which effectively stopped the flow of unusable extra funds, and offered me a small relief for the last 2 months now., but she was not able to help me with answers about getting the overage released,, or at least part of it to make up the missing month and bring my account current., that would require some attorney fees.

The MC aslo said that if I did bring my account current by the extra month, they still could not send me my overage due to the cp. 13.

My attorney will want extra fees to help with advice on this, which I do not have, and it may end up being more than the money I am trying to get/use. I am making less money now, due to my company cutbacks etc.. and I really need help, I am living check to check, and am seriously afraid that if I fall behind another month it'll count as 2 etc... not to mention my credit report is showing all payments for the last 2 years are 30 days late. (which is overshadowed anyway by the cp13, but I do want to rebuild credit someday). Any help or advise you may have would be greatly appreciated.
I could really use the "unusable" funds they are holding to bring my account the one month current, for one, and two. to by some groceries etc..
I'm in Texas BTW.

The key here is how to turn your house into an asset and not an expense...while you get back on your feet.

meaning you may have to rent out some rooms to keep your bottom line black instead of in the red. Then use that to payoff some legal fees, etc...Maybe stay at your folks house and rent this one out for awhile is an option if the house is in pretty good shape.

My point is that doing something like this with a little sacrifice is a lot better than losing your house entirely.

and it looks like you need to be doing and keeping PROOF every month of payment if they lose crap like that all the time.

If you think they've been dishonest there may be a service some law offices give in which they do some type of forensics to dispute the charges on the foreclosure amount and prove the amounts in question. There are benefits to this, but it maybe different in every state and the law office won't do this for free.