Did you file Chapter 13 to save your house from foreclosure? Making payments to the trustee to catch up on the mortgage? If you haven’t claimed a tax deduction for the bankruptcy plan payments that go to the lender, you’re leaving money on the table. That’s money that fattens Uncle Sam’s coffers at the expense […]
Getting Rid Of Junior Home Liens In Bankruptcy
One of Chapter 13’s superpowers is its ability to strip off mortgage liens on a home. Ordinarily, liens survive a bankruptcy discharge as a charge on the collateral; it’s the borrower’s personal liability that is wiped out. But Chapter 13 allows the elimination of voluntary liens when the lien isn’t really secured by any value […]
Find The Lost Tax Deduction When Lender Misreports Mortgage Interest Paid
How can you pay thousands of dollars in mortgage payments in a year, and get a tax Form 1098 for a fraction of actual mortgage interest paid? That’s what my client wanted to know. His monthly mortgage payment is $2715. The loan is currently interest only. All the payments were made. And yet, the Form 1098 […]
So You Keep Your Home Through Bankruptcy- What Then?
What happens to your home after your bankruptcy case is over? Most people who file bankruptcy are terrified that just filing bankruptcy will cost them their home. They won’t let me keep my home, will they? Sure they will. The Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee doesn’t want the house if there’s no value in it, He’s […]
When Mortgage Lenders Monkey With Your Loan
Spoiler Alert: As a borrower, you are an expendable resource in home loan servicing to be exploited for fees and charges. And those who could do something “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. Meanwhile, you and other borrowers are the enemy in something once referred to decades ago as “Combat Loan Servicing”. Borrowers just […]
Legacy of the Mortgage Lending Frenzy Returns
Just when I thought that most of the pain from the mortgage lending bubble of a decade ago was behind us, we arrive at a painful milestone. Those 10 years-interest only loans from 2006 and 2007 are resetting. Instead of being interest only, they now move to principal and interest. And the balance originally borrowed […]
Worthless Mortgage Liens Keep Homeowner At Risk
The client originally had his choice of bankruptcy chapters. He could file Chapter 7, get quick relief, and put “everything” behind him. Or his could file Chapter 13, propose a plan that would strip the mortgage lien and pay the taxes that wouldn’t be discharged in Chapter 7. He chose 7, and briskly got a […]
Why Your Mortgage Lender Won’t Send Statements After Bankruptcy
Lists of stupid laws are lots of fun, when they don’t really touch your life. But the law that gags mortgage lenders after bankruptcy isn’t funny. Preventing lenders from sending mortgage statements to homeowners after bankruptcy just sets families up for foreclosure and rewards servicers with the fees that follow default. It’s just a stupid […]
Hidden Dangers In Tapping The Reverse Mortgage Piggybank
Actor Fred Thompson used to appear on my Sunday morning news program every week touting the benefits of a “government insured”, safe, reverse mortgage. Get the money you deserve to live the good life, he urged. I’m watching the aftermath of that sales pitch play out for one of my clients, and it’s not “the […]
Loan Modification: The $100,000 Mistake
The job of a mortgage servicer is to collect loan payments and keep track of what’s owed on the mortgage. That shouldn’t be too hard. But the evidence is that they don’t do that basic job very well. Throw a loan modification into the mix, and who knows what you’ll get. Accounting for modification […]
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