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.

Mortgage Assistance Hurdle #1

Well, employment has not happened yet.  Neither has foreclosure, but we've only just this month stopped making payments, so that's down the road quite a ways.

We are applying with Keep Your Home California for mortgage assistance, because neither BofA or Nationstar appeared to be interested in any form of loan modification or other assistance, ostensibly because of the confusion of the mortgage transfer.  I'll admit to not wanting to work with BofA anyway, for personal historical reasons as well as political and philosophical ones.  Frankly, I don't imagine Nationstar would be any better.  I'm just suspicious of banks in general these days.

I've done a couple of loooong eligibility phone calls with this agency, and just this afternoon, we cleared the first hurdle.  The next one involves waiting for a list of financial documents, and then collecting and returning those documents to them.  Guess what I'm doing next week?

The deal is this; we have to sign a deed of trust and a promissory note saying we'll pay *back* any aid they give us if we sell the house within three years of the end of their help, out of any cash proceeds.  After three years, the note is forgiven.  Now that I'm off the phone with them, the questions I could not think of are starting to pop up in my head.  That's okay, nothing is set in stone yet, so I'll just start a list of questions for our next loooong phone call.

Oh yeah, and the music they played while I was on hold was highly repetitive.  I think my brain has melted.  I just wish places would say something like, "we hate hold music, too, so, every 60 seconds, you'll hear this announcement again, in between times, it will be silent".  Ah well, when I'm Queen of the Universe, there will be some changes made.