Hi folks, new to the board, wish I had found it sooner. My 341 hearin is tomorrow, and I feel pretty good about it, not nervous yet lol. I think my situationis pretty straightfoward, but I could use some advise regarding my HELOC. The HELOC is with a large credit union. I also have a car I would like to keep and a CC I'm going to burn with this CU. The CU has already closed my checking account and killed my online account access. So, I've got a mortage on my house which is right at being under water. The house appraised for 145K but no way would it sell for anything over 115K. Better houses in the same neighborhood arent moving at the 120K-130K level. My mortage balance is $113K. My lawyer says I will basically have to testify that the house isnt worth that in real world dollars. I dont have a problem keeping the mortage. The HELOC is for 28K. I do not want to reaffirm this HELOC. I would rather move...thing is, I've got a large family and finding an available house/apt in the area has not is proving pretty hard. I could do a 401K withdrawl and settle the heloc for 10K or under, but My lawyer says she has never seen the CU settle for one dime less than is owed. I've also read that for a HELOC or 2nd mortage, that bank has to pay off first mortage (which is current) in order to foreclose. I cant see the sense in a CU paying 113K to buy the mortage and then selling the property for 115K or less. Seems like a loosing proposistion to me. I'm thinking of just stopping payments on the HELOC and seeing what happens, with the hope that in a few years I could settle for pennies on the dollar. Any advise in this area?
