Miss Me?

We are in the process of bankruptcy.  There are two types of bankruptcy for people who are not a business or corporation; Chapter 7 and Chapter 13.  A 7 just says, Oh Fuck, Clear Away the Debt and we won't have any credit to speak of for a few years.  A 13 takes 5 years of us making some unknown amount of a monthly payment to a trustee, who then disburses it to the creditors.  After 5 years, the whole thing gets swept away, paid or not,and no credit during and for awhile after, either.  There are limitations on who can do a 7 under what circumstances.  We are currently in a gray area in between a 7 and a 13.  Of course, I'm hoping for the 7, as I'm not sure I would not kill myself sometime during the five years of a 13.  Of course, if more bad shit happened, a 13 can always be turned into a 7.  I'm in the odd position of wondering if I should be hoping for bad shit.

Making sense?  Are you keeping up?  Me, not so much either.

Last week, That Man got a real job offer.  Not a contract, a regular job, with some benefits and proper taxes and everything.  It's even work he is interested in doing.  This is a minor miracle, and we're very happy.  He has been working a contract job, with no benefits, and no income tax being withheld, and our health insurance being through Pay Through The Nose For Crap Insurance COBRA.  Before we started the bankruptcy, I had been paying bills with money the IRS is going to want next spring.  That's not going to be pretty either, let me tell you.  But, it's not *today*.

Last Friday, we had our first meeting with the bankruptcy trustee guy.  It went as expected; simple and terrifying.  Because of the new job in the offing, things got pushed back a couple of weeks, and the answer about 7 or 13 didn't happen.  We won't have to go to the next meeting, just our attorney has to file new paperwork.

Today, it only took me two hours to pay the mortgage.  After being on hold for about a half hour, That Evil Mortgage Company told me that they would now accept my payments in any form.  Too late of course to do anything this time except the expensive wire transfer, but that's minor shit at this point.  Par for the course for them, as well.  But that brings up the question; how can I easily and cheaply pay them with out putting our account at risk from them again?  I'm in discussions with my credit union about that.  We may just open a second checking account there, and *only* cycle the mortgage payment through that second account.  That way, no matter if/how they stir around in there, they can't get things that are not theirs, and they can't cause Not Sufficient Funds fees to happen by doing that stirring.

I wonder if that's an oncoming train.

NationStar Mortgage Is Apparently The Anti-Christ

Is there some secular or pagan version of Anti-Christ that I can start referencing?

Well, now, I'm posting while still hiccuping from hysteria.

I sent them money.  Two weeks later, I got to wondering why the check had not cleared.  Turned out, oh yes indeedy, they claim that they cannot accept it and they have mailed it back to me.

So, I'm behinder than ever.  They want certified funds now, so I have to go spend more money getting a cashiers check and sending it to them.

I lost it with the lady on the phone.  And I shouted.  And then I apologized for shouting.  And then I cried and I cried and I cried.

I'm still crying.  I presume I'll get better in a bit. 


But I swear, if I ever get past this mess, I am refinancing this house so that I will never have to deal with NSM again, and I will definitely badmouth them for the rest of my natural life.

Important Safety Warning

If you have to go get your credit reports, and you're doing it via the web site set up for that purpose?

Get all your ducks in a row, don't pause in the middle to wrestle with your printer like I did, or *anything*. 

Why, you ask?  They will disconnect you for taking too long, for security reasons.  Then you cannot get back to make this request via the web for an entire year and will have to use the telephone version, or even mail in a paper form to them.  Response times for those are guesstimated to start within 15 business days.  That is three full weeks, ladies and gentlemen.

Color me frustrated!

Maybe Bankruptcy Instead?

Work came and work went.  Work came again since I last posted.  Money has flowed in and out in similar patterns.

Even if unemployment never, ever happens again, I cannot see how we can get back to a place where we are caught up on the bills.  Even if "caught up" just means making a minimum monthly payment for pretty much the rest of my life.

This week, we consulted a bankruptcy attorney. 

Dammit.  This is really painful.  I'm not at my perky best.

Sigh

So, the most recent job ended abruptly this past Friday.

I had thought we might have just barely squeaked by the tight spot.  It looks like I was wrong.

I don't know what comes next.  The mortgage is current, for the time being.  I paid off the last little bit on one of the vehicles with the balance of the tax refund.  I was just beginning to talk to the credit card companies, about how to start working on that mess.

Frankly, I am quite discouraged.  

One Last Thing

Dear Goddess, Gentle and Bright, *PLEASE* make it the last thing!

There was more hoorah over sending the money, but all that was with my credit union and getting a form Just Right.  Three phone calls and four identical faxes later, and it was done.  Only a couple hours over all.  The credit union is next on my hit list of organizations that I intend to dump like a hot rock as soon as it is safe to do so.  But the money went away.

So I waited a full day to check and make sure the money went where it was intended to go.  And while the automated phone thing with NationStar assures me a payment was made on Tuesday, the dollar amount mentioned is about one third of the dollar amount I sent, a little over one months payment, as compared to the three months+ that I sent.  It then went on to blithely tell me when and how much my next payment should be, and it is the regular monthly amount, no mention of being in arrears at all.  I suppose I can extrapolate from that that the money is all well and properly dealt with.  That is, if I were to indulge in Hope or Trust when dealing with this company.  That is not going to happen.

However, that one last thing is that I could not get a live human being to speak with at NationStar, to double check that all the money went to all the right places and that All is now Well and Good.  At this stage, I'd like that reassurance, and I just can't get it. 

*******

As a complete aside, I fell over this web site today and it totally hits the spot about how I'm thinking and feeling about Life, the Planet and Everything these days.

http://dark-mountain.net/

Take My Money!

The adventure continues.

Last week, I wrote a check for the full amount of what we owe the mortgage company.  I placed it in an envelope and trusted it to the United States Postal Service.

Just now I have gotten off the telephone with NationStar Mortgage, who is *returning* my check to me.  I don't understand what their reasons are, the man that I shouted at on the phone couldn't explain it in a way that made any real sense to me.

They want the money in some particular way.  My check is too big, apparently.  I can wire it or send a certified check, as a personal check just will not do.  This will take more time and more effort and cost more money, and you know what?  I'm going to end up having my payment for this month, which was rolled into that one huge check, be LATE, because they didn't bother to tell me this up front.

On top of this, my very large check is out there, floating around in limbo.  I'm supposed to send them the money before I get that check back from this Oh So Reliable and Trustworthy company.  Pardon me while I have some justifiable paranoia.

I am so angry I could spit.  I shouted at that man, using several four letter words that I usually work very hard to not use while dealing with a creditor.

I have had more trouble with NationStar in the last 3.5 months than I had with any and all other mortgage companies I've ever dealt with before them, over 15 years now.

When I manage to refinance this mess, I'm having a party.

Titling Blog Posts Is Hard

That man got a job.  Then he got a paycheck.  So, I'm trying to pay the mortgage company.  I'm trying to give them money.  That's not working so far today.

When last we spoke, I had had problems with the mortgage company trying to vacuum money out of my account without permission or approval.  So, I put a stop payment style thing on my account, so that they couldn't do that again.  I only did this after having been assured, by THREE different people at my credit union, that I'd still be able to *SEND* them money via the Bill Pay portion of their website, they just would not be able to *TAKE* money out, willy-nilly.

Turns out those three people were wrong.  I tried to send money to the mortgage company, and it did not go, because of the stop payment thing.  Actually: precisely; at this very moment, the mortgage people think they have the money, and my credit union assures me that they do not.  I don't know who to believe, so I'm choosing to come down on the side of what has the capacity to cause me the most grief, which would be that the credit union is correct.  Eventually, the mortgage company will figure it out.  And then, they'll be pissed.  In a faux dignified, "We Are The Bank and You are a Lying, Deadbeat Peon Who is Obviously Hiding Resources" sort of way, but still, pissed.  There will be consequences.

I've spent the morning on the phone, back and forth between the two financial entities.  The bottom line is that I'm about to write a check, place it in an envelope, and mail it to the mortgage company.  This is a risky choice, in that if somehow the electronic payment goes through after all, the paper check will end up bouncing.  But if I don't send the paper check, and the electronic payment really does not go through, then I'll be an extra month late on my mortgage, which will trigger further unpleasantries over at the mortgage company.

Apparently, I will be not using the Bill Pay thing to pay my mortgage any more.  There's no way in hell I'm taking that stop payment thing off.


I'd very much like to start banking out of an old coffee can now, please.  Because my efforts to do the right thing have garnered me nothing but heartburn.

On Hold

Things have progressed a bit.  By not moving much, apparently.

We have continued to locate and provide information to Keep Your Home California, but have not made it to "accepted" or whatever yet.  It's a slow dang process, I guess.

In the meantime, the new mortgage company has been pretty damn unhelpful.  One of the pieces of information I needed for KYHC was a statement from NationStar Mortgage, which they just could NOT expedite for me.  That took almost 3 weeks to arrive.  We also get robo-calls from them, but no live human beings.  "Please contact us at your earliest opportunity" style things.  So, as I type, I'm on hold with the damn machines. 

Another thing happened that got my hair on fire about is that NationStar attempted to go into my bank account and scoop out money.  I have NEVER authorised them to do that, That Man never did any such thing, we never did that with the last mortgage holder, I hate that sort of thing.  Luckily(?), we did not have the money in the account and so they didn't get anything and we also got a Non Sufficient Funds charge.  Wheee.

(time passes)

They answered the phone.  I'm currently on hold for the third time, as I'm transferred back and forth between departments.

I have spoken to three people about everything, I heard them typing like mad to note down what I was saying.  I only wish they'd read what earlier people typed, because they HAVE all this information.  Sigh.

And, they claim that someone authorised them to go into our bank account.  I *know* that's not the case, but how do you prove you didn't do something?  I have, however, made a permanent stop payment with the credit union to refuse ANY such behaviour from that company again.  I can still send them money, if I ever get any, but they cannot come in and do the scoop it up thing again.

So, there seems to be a job in the offing for that man, the KYHC people might come through eventually and Hell Might Just Freeze Over.  It's amazing to me that things might actually be improving and yet I'm still so Bloody ANGRY.