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Reaffirmation of Mortgage after BK?

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jonwb
New Member

Reaffirmation of Mortgage after BK?

Hi,

 

My wife and I filed for bankruptcy three years ago.  Our BofA home mortgage was not included... just credit card debt.  At the time, the attorneys recommended NOT to reaffirm our mortgage and it has remained unreported to credit agencies since 2009.  It's a decision I'm starting to regret.  We have never missed (or had a late) payment during the mortgage history's seven year period.

 

How can I reaffirm this?  Do I talk with BofA or with the company that handled our BK?  Could it be too late?

 

Thanks for any guidance,

Jon

Message 1 of 16
15 REPLIES 15
Comet21
Regular Contributor

Re: Reaffirmation of Mortgage after BK?

Most people on here would tell you to never reaffirm on this forum. But I personally believe that everyones situation is different. On the one hand you have been given a clean slate so you can rebuild from there. On the other hand you have a clean payment history for a mortgage that you are not getting credit for(No pun intended). How was your mortgage not IIB but you did not reaffirm? If it was not included then there should not have been any change. Every state is different but your mortgage probably was included but you have always made payments as normal. Bank of America will never start reporting your mortgage because at anytime you can decide to stop paying and you would not be liable. Do you still have online access to your mortgage through the BOA site? The reason I ask is because I am going through the same thing but we did reaffirm. BOA said that they cannot start reporting until our BK is discharged and approved by the court. 


Starting Score: TU 477 EQ 533 BK 1/27/2012
Current Score: EX 702 TU 681 EQ 652 1/10/2014
Goal Score: 700


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Message 2 of 16
jonwb
New Member

Re: Reaffirmation of Mortgage after BK?

Hey thanks for replying so quickly..

 

We're in California.  On the day we appeared in court, the attorney gave us the option (for a $75 fee) to reaffirm it on a later date... though again, he said they didn't recommend it.  Even though the mortgage was not part of the BK, BofA later sent me an email indicating that they knew of the procedure.  We were discharged four months later.  I still have online access to our account.  I wonder if BofA was never notified of the discharge?  Hmm?

 

Message 3 of 16
Comet21
Regular Contributor

Re: Reaffirmation of Mortgage after BK?

It was your attorneys job to contact them. But it has been so long ago, I would contact them myself. You will know as soon as you speak with someone how BOA is handling your mortgage. If you get sent to the BK Department then you may have to do a little fighting and send in your discharge paperwork. If not tell them to report correctly, and if that does not work dispute with your CR. At the very least you should get it corrected moving forward, but I am not sure about the past. I hoping I don't lose my 4 years of payment history.


Starting Score: TU 477 EQ 533 BK 1/27/2012
Current Score: EX 702 TU 681 EQ 652 1/10/2014
Goal Score: 700


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Message 4 of 16
jonwb
New Member

Re: Reaffirmation of Mortgage after BK?

Well here's something... found in the Communication Center on my BofA account.  I must've overlooked it when my email address changed.

 

"The Impact of the Bankruptcy: Our records indicate that in the past you received a discharge of this debt in a bankruptcy case. Section 524 of the Bankruptcy Code tells us the discharge of this debt means you have no personal obligation to repay it. The discharge also protects you from any efforts by anyone to collect this discharged debt as a personal liability of the debtor. You cannot be pressured to repay this debt. On the other hand, the security agreement allows foreclosure if the requirements under the loan documents are not met".

 

I'm not sure what this is saying in regard to our mortgage?  How can you receive a discharge of mortgage debt?  We retained the house and it was exempt from the case.  The BofA account was listed as a creditor in our Chapter 7 case, but we stated in writing we didn't intend to default on the loan, and to keep making payments as scheduled.

Message 5 of 16
Comet21
Regular Contributor

Re: Reaffirmation of Mortgage after BK?

But if you did not reaffirm then LEGALLY you do not have to pay and you have no obligations to the mortgage. I am surprised you still have online access. I can only see my balance but when I click on it, it says that I need to contact Customer Service. 

 

A more experienced person on here can tell you how much this is impacting your score but I definitley understand your frustration. I do not know if it is too late to reaffirm but I don't know if it would be a wise thing to do at this point anyways. I know I am going back to your original post, your attorney was going to charge you a fee to reaffirm? That is probably smart on his part to discourage filers from doing so. As soon as I get my discharge paperwork, I am going to call BOA to hopefully get my situation resolved. I do not know how successful I will be but I have to try. I have the same situation with my Student Loans even though they could not be discharged. But I called them and it is back reporting correctly on EQ but I am not sure about the others. 


Starting Score: TU 477 EQ 533 BK 1/27/2012
Current Score: EX 702 TU 681 EQ 652 1/10/2014
Goal Score: 700


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Message 6 of 16
jonwb
New Member

Re: Reaffirmation of Mortgage after BK?

I'd be interested in knowing why a person wouldn't want to reaffirm a mortgage?   It's not like we're going to walk away.  The BK decision was based on keeping the house after my wife lost her job.   I don't know, maybe it wouldn't effect my score too much anyway?  The main thing is we're paying on time and have 23 years left with it... without struggling any longer.  Part of me would like my credit rating to show something for that.

 

BTW, I remember being closed out of the BofA website too after the BK.  After a few payments and a call to customer service, I had access.  They're just waiting you out.

Message 7 of 16
Comet21
Regular Contributor

Re: Reaffirmation of Mortgage after BK?

The main reason people would say to never reaffirm a debt is because you have filed for BK for a reason and you have been given a clean slate. Don't go reaffirm a debt that you are no longer liable for. If you plan on keeping the home, continue to make payments on-time and it will be the same. You cannot lose your home if you continue to make payments and keep your insurance up-to-date.

 

Was / Is your home underwater? My biggest concern was with our equity, but I have since learned that would not have been a problem also. We did not want to take any chances. We also reaffirmed our car since we only had 9 more payments.


Starting Score: TU 477 EQ 533 BK 1/27/2012
Current Score: EX 702 TU 681 EQ 652 1/10/2014
Goal Score: 700


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Message 8 of 16
deemutz
Valued Member

Re: Reaffirmation of Mortgage after BK?

As long as you make payments, nothing will happen. If you quit making payments on the mortgage, BoA will start foreclosure at 60 days without having to do anything to collect other than sending a BK breach letter. They cannot come after you for payments.

 

I would do what needs done to let BoA know that this should have been reaffirmed, but I don't know the legal requirements to do so.



Starting Score 12-2011: EX 640 FAKO TU 550 FAKO 6-2011
Current Score 3-2012: EX 635 TU 603 myFICO 3-2012 EQ 670 MyFICO
Goal Score: 720


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In the Garden, trying to avoid the Christmas temptation. Last app 9/2012
Message 9 of 16
Comet21
Regular Contributor

Re: Reaffirmation of Mortgage after BK?

We were notified by our attorney last night that we have now been discharged! Now what? I contacted Bank of America about our reaffirmation and reporting but they said that it could be months before they receive anything form the courts about our discharge. So they told me to send in the discharge paperwork from our attorney to them. I faxed it this morning. What paperwork could possibly take that long? They have had our reaffirmation for a couple of months and the court sent the paperwork to my attorney yesterday. He reviewed it and then sent it to us. What are they talking about a couple of months? They did not seem to be on our side but how could I ever think they would be. We did file for BK. We did include a BOA CC in BK. We just want them to start reporting as normal. 


Starting Score: TU 477 EQ 533 BK 1/27/2012
Current Score: EX 702 TU 681 EQ 652 1/10/2014
Goal Score: 700


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Message 10 of 16
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