Hello, Everyone. Let's see, where to start. I've read a lot of useful info on this board but am still feeling overwhelmed. Any advice as to what course of action (chronological steps) is appreciated. My wife and I are 24,000 in dept - Credit card and dept store. We are 2 payments behind on our mortgage. We are driving a vehicle that has not had one payment made on it yet - 3 months late. How did this happen? I was illegally evicted from my place of business 3 months ago. Took the landlord to court. I won an temp injunction for the remainder of my lease - 1 1/2 years left. Due to the illegal eviction, I lost business (lost wages, present and future) and have not been able to continue working due to a hostile work environment - because of the lawsuit. I own a discount sports supplement/smoothie business within a gym. The owner of the gym has made it virtually impossible for me to continue my business in a normal manner. Unplugged my refrigerator, taken my phone (used for cc transactions), etc. Because of this, my attorney has advised me to pursue the civil lawsuit (damages, etc). I am trying to settle with the landlord for a fair amount but chances of him wanting to settle are slim and none. It will take a judge to direct him to pay damages. Anyway, in the meantime, I have another job making 800.00 a month - new job as of yesteday. My wife has a job making 2100.00 a month. We know that the mortgage is the most important thing and I will call them tomorrow. They (Chase Manhattan)are threatening to begin the forclosure process by the 26th of Aug. We think we can scrape up the money (3000.00) by then but aren't totally sure. We have an 11 month old that eats a lot. Kidding aside, as far as the car, it could get repo'd any day. I called Mitsubishi and they wouldn't budge since we haven't made even one payment. Collection calls out the wazoo. Any and all suggestions are immensely appreciated. PS I don't have a copy of my credit report but will order one tomorrow. Thanks, Allen
Allen, if you think an 11 month eats alot, wait until he gets to be a teenager! I'm sorry about your troubles. It sounds like you are on the right track. If it were me, I would be working the mortgage first. Nothing else matters before a roof over your family's head. I think I would sit down with pencil and paper next and work out the realities of your situation. Is $2,900 going to be enough to keep your head above water? Do you have another car to drive? That would be the next issue. You have to have transportation to work. Did you put a down payment on it? Is there enough equity to dump it and by a beater until you get over this hump in the road? I don't pretend to know your full situation, but this is a question just to throw out there. Have you talked to an attorney about filing a BK13 to see if it will buy you some time to get thru the situation? BK shouldn't be taken lightly, and it will destroy your credit, this is just a question to see what your mindset is. Welcome to the board!
First: HIDE THE CAR. The repossessor is already looking for it. Only park it where there is a lock between the car and teh street. Second: Beg, Borrow whatever you have to in order to make peace with the mortgage company. Once they start foreclosure it will cost you thousands more in "attorney fees" to stop the foreclosure.
Do you have another car to drive? That would be the next issue. You have to have transportation to work. Did you put a down payment on it? Is there enough equity to dump it and by a beater until you get over this hump in the road? I don't pretend to know your full situation, but this is a question just to throw out there. Have you talked to an attorney about filing a BK13 to see if it will buy you some time to get thru the situation? BK shouldn't be taken lightly, and it will destroy your credit, this is just a question to see what your mindset is. Welcome to the board! [/B][/QUOTE] Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, this is the only car we have. We drive to work 25 miles each way and since we work close, we carpool. Our credit was stellar before this whole situation occurred (we owned 2 cars outright, but sold them both about six months ago - talk about a DUMB mistake)so no, there was no down payment nor equity. As far as BK13, we have talked about both 7 and 13. In our situation, we're not sure which would be best. Suggestions? Also, how much time will BK buy without actually going all the way through the process. If we could get one month, we could definitely address the mortgage situation. Thanks again. Allen
Question - we can park the car in the garage and can keep it out of reach by parking in a parking garage at work. How long will the cat and mouse game work here in Texas if we are trying to buy time - say 2 months? Thanks for the info. Allen
Re: Re: Newbie Advice(Trouble in Paradise) The "hide the car game" will work as long as there is a lock between the car and the repo man. I also suggest a door so the repo man can't just cut the lock. If the reposessor can't FIND the car, he can't take it. When I was a Collecion manager for an auto finance company some times I had to wait 6 months before the repo man could get the car. By then you should be caught up and the repo man called off.
Re: Re: Re: Newbie Advice(Trouble in Paradise) Very helpful, thanks again. Using your experience as a CM, how does the repo process work? Does the repo man periodically drive by your house, work, do they follow you? I'm sounding paranoid now, I know! Allen
Re: Re: Re: Newbie Advice(Trouble in Paradise) Anyone have any tips I should know about before I call the mortgage company and try to work things out with them? I'd like to pay half of the $3000.00 they are asking for by 8/26, then get caught up next month. Allen
Re: Re: Re: Re: Newbie Advice(Trouble in Paradise) They do all the above and more. The Finance Compnay probably had a set of keys made when they financed the car and gave the keys to the repossessor. Just keep the car out of sight and keep it behind a locked door or you will lose it. When driving somewhere, do NOT leave it parked on the street, as it is possible to be followed. Repossessors work like Private Detectives and are very focused. All it takes is 5 minutes for you to become a pedestrian. In this case, paranoia helps.
Mortgage Question Can anyone help with a mortgage question? Question - Is it possible to buy time, say 30 - 45 days, with the mortgage company by disputing the fact that we are 2 payments behind? Is this something that we should even consider doing (is it illegal)? Will it cause us even more trouble? We actually do have a dispute. We were using mortgage accelerator and then dropped out. We seem to be missing $700.00, the last withdrawal which doesn't appear to have been credited to our mortgage. We can dig out within 30 - 45 days and are trying to stay away from Bankruptcy or Forclosure. Thanks, Allen
Mortgage Question I'd certainly try contacting them and saying that you think some payments have been misapplied and that you aren't really that far behind. Tell them you want a statement of account. At the same time, you can make the offer of half of what you owe them, or whatever you wanted to offer to buy some time. Tell them that you don't feel you owe it, but you'll pay $xxx as a good faith gesture until you can resolve the problems, because you definitely don't want a foreclosure and you know this will get worked out. Hopefully they'll agree to hold off and get you the statement of account. Tell them that after you get it you will need a few weeks to go through your old records and check all your payments against their records. Maybe by then you can get current with the mortgage. Then if you can hold the repo off, and get current with your car loan, you'll be well on your way. By the way, this is one of the reasons that I advocate not paying extra on your mortgage, but put the money someplace save and liquid (at least 6-12 months worth of expenses). With the extra you've paid, if it was in the bank or a money market account, you could now have your mortgage and maybe your car and other bills current. At least the mortgage and car. This is one of those situations where you have the equity in your home, but what good does it do you?
