Foreclosure University

Your Online Real Estate Investing Resource

HELOC

Can my 2nd mortgage (heloc) foreclose on me?

by 2 Comments

Question:  I have done a loan modification with my first mortgage and have been making the monthly payments every month with no problems. We have a Home Equity with another back which we have not been making the payments for that for over a year now. That bank is now sending us Notices Of Intent To Accelerate. Can they foreclose on our home even though they are not the first mortgage and we are current with the first mortgage company. what can this bank do to us?

Answer:  – This question comes up all the time. For some reason, many homeowners don’t believe the 2nd mortgage can force the sale of their home. In most cases, your home is collateral for the loan. That’s why when you get a 2nd mortgage, they want to make sure there is equity in the home so they can get paid if they have to foreclose. Even if you are current on your first mortgage, doesn’t matter. The 2nd mortgage can still foreclose and force the sale of your home. Although they would prefer not to because very likely they won’t be able to sell it for what they are into it.

So they will incur both foreclosure costs and lose out if the home is upside down. This is why they are so willing to work with us and other investors in settling those 2nd mortgages because they would prefer to have something rather than nothing. In any case, you will eventually lose your house if you continue on this path so it makes no sense if you are not paying your second, might as well not pay your first either. A better solution if you want to keep paying your first, is to work out something with the 2nd… basically a settlement. You’ll agree to pay them x amount to satisfy the loan.

If the 2nd forecloses, more than likely they will issue you a 1099 or they will file a judgment against you for the difference. When this happens, you can either choose to pay the judgment or the loss that was incurred from the sale or you can file bk. Hope this helps.

Short Sale? Can we Settle instead of payment plan?

by 2 Comments

Question:  We are in the process of doing a short sale to sell our condo in Illinois. We have a mortgage and a line of credit through Wells Fargo. The mortgage is approved for short sale, asking us to bring $20k to closing. The line of credit is almost approved but they are saying that we will have to settle that loan AFTER we close by setting up a payment plan. We cannot afford to pay on this line of credit and we are now considering foreclosure. If we foreclose, can the bank come after our assets? Can the bank come after us for the line of credit? We are moving out of state. Will we have to go to court? Will foreclosure permanently be on our record, or just for 7 years? Will we be able to get loans in the future? Thank you for your help!

Answer:

These are great questions. You have about 3 or 4 questions here so I will try to answer them accordingly. First, the bank can’t come after your assets directly but they “could” file a judgment against you where you will have to pay them the amount that was deficient. The line of credit is what gets most people into trouble. They are the ones who take the biggest losses. So they are the ones that usually come after you. You can actually settle the 2nd mortgage completely for approx. 10% to 15% of the original note if you know what you are doing. That way there is no repayment plan. It’s basically wiped out for good. See most banks are worried that you will file bankruptcy, so they are willing to work with you if you provide them a quick settlement upfront. Third, you shouldn’t have to go to court, unless you decide to fight the judgment if it even goes that far. Fourth, foreclosure will be on your record for about 7 years. Bankruptcy is about 7-10 years. A short sale is about 2-3. A settlement has NO effect on your credit because it was paid off in full. No matter which route you choose, you will eventually be able to get loans again. It’s just a matter of time.

Can I Short Sale My HELOC?

by 3 Comments

Question:  I may need to short sale my home in Washington DC. My second is a line of credit of $80K. Is it possible that that lender approve a short sale, or will they automatically not, just because it is a line of credit and not a regular mortgage loan?

 

Answer:  

Yes, you can “work out” something with your lender. A short sale is usually done when you have a buyer come in and offer the bank less than what that home is worth and then you have to move out. If you want to sell the home, than that would be an option. However, a better alternative might be to Settle Your 2nd Mortgage. This is where you would negotiate a full payoff or settlement of your 2nd mortgage. It’s a lot different from a short sale because you get to stay in your home and it doesn’t affect your credit like a short sale would. Hope this helps.

Counter offer to HELOC settlement

by 1 Comment

Question:  Hi, many of these subjects are interesting but my questions and situation is a bit different.
After going through a long process with my 1st mortgage, finally a loan modification with a 3 month trial is being worked on. Still owe about 145,000 on 1st mortgage. House value is now around 50,000. Took a HELOC of 30,000 of which I still owe 24,000. After unemployed and some rough times, just getting back on my feet. Heloc lender wants a lump sum at this point of 19,500. If I can’t come up with it then a down of $4,500 and a monthly of $200. If I could I would but can’t. I counter offer $50-$75 month. My weekly budget has no rooms for extras. I have not heard on my counter offer. Can you explain what will happen if they don’t accept to me, my house which I am trying to keep and working with my 1st lender. Thank you for any help or suggestions you can provide. will look out for a response.

Can 2nd mortgage foreclose on me?

by Leave a Comment

Question:  I have a 1st and 2nd mortgage with one bank in Florida. Then another bank came and offered to pay my 2nd mortgage with that bank. My heloc was not closed with the first bank and i had an emergency got some money out of it. My 5 yr term with the 2nd bank expired. They have been calling me and offering 8% interest rate on my heloc. I have been negotiating for a lower interest. they wont approved. Bank is threatening to foreclose my property. Can they do it? Property value is way too low..there is no equity on the house in this current market. Please advise. Can the 2nd bank foreclose my property?

Answer:   Absolutely, the 2nd mortgage can foreclose on your property. When you signed on the dotted lines for the HELOC, you gave them the right to force the sale of the property, which was collateral for the loan, in the event you did not keep up your end of the deal. Unfortunately, banks don’t like to negotiate with homeowners very much. They have this assumption that homeowners have no clue what they are doing. So they don’t give you very good deals that seem very reasonable based on current market conditions. Yet when a 3rd party (attorney or real estate investor) negotiates with them, the bank will usually lose more money because the offer is even lower then what the homeowner proposed. Bottom line, banks flat out don’t make sense.

So you best bet is to have someone else, like an attorney, negotiate the terms with them and try to get them to reason with you. Unfortunately, they cost money, but they should be able to help.

Another option is to have someone settle that 2nd mortgage and wipe it out completely…

Let the bank know you are interested in settling, tell them your home is upside down by $50,000 or whatever the amount is, there is a first mortgage in front of them and they will end up paying more than what the property is worth. Let them know your attorney has advised you to file bankruptcy but you don’t want to go that route. (This will just by you some time, they will eventually foreclose.) Then you or preferable someone else, needs to go settle that note for pennies and that way you don’t lose your home.

We settle 2nd mortgages and have been very successful in doing so for homeowners with large 2nds. The great part is that it doesn’t cost you anything upfront.

Good luck, hope everything works out for you.

Collections from Foreclosure

by Leave a Comment

Question:  We foreclosed on our home in California in 2010,it also had a equity line of credit that has a third party now calling trying to collect. What options do we have if any?

 

Answer:

Well the best option is to settle with them. Offer them a small payoff amount. I’d start at 10% of the loan amount. Your biggest challenge, as with all homeowners, is that banks automatically assume you don’t know what you are talking about. So in most cases it’s hard to negotiate a settlement with them. You are almost always better off having a 3rd party individual, like an attorney, talk to them. Be sure to let them know you are prepared to file bankruptcy because your attorney advised it. They get nothing if you go that route so many times they are inclined to accept any offer you throw at them that is reasonable.