Day 117: Notice of Default (for serious)

Credit Score: 654

Phone Calls: 15

Emails: 3

Paper: 14

On-Time: 133/135

Yaaaaay! For reals this time. Very definitely a Notice of Default was taped to our door last night. Over the weekend, we had received a letter that our loan was being transferred to a local law firm, then BAM! notice was posted. I like this firm already. If this pace keeps up, we could still be done this year, and still under the tax-free bill.

The significance of this notice is both that we've actually made some progress and that we're officially going down the non-judicial foreclosure route (the good one). They can still change their minds up until the sale actually happens, but it's still really rare for anyone to do a judicial (judge involved) foreclosure on such a tiny property.

Maybe this transfer is why it's been all quiet on the western front the last few weeks. And I imagine it'll continue to be quiet. The lender isn't trying to collect anymore (although the notice did say exactly how much I could pay them to un-default myself), and I'd guess that the lawyers aren't going to waste any time or money on extra papers to us.

I'm probably too optimistic, but I'd like to think that this law firm would want to get this over with as quickly as possible. All the government programs out there are designed to halt this process. If they get repeatedly halted in the middle of these foreclosures, the lawyers must get paid less.

Foolishly optimistic or not, I'm a little more hopeful of a tax break now. :) I'll be very interested to see whether we get a notice of sale at the 30-day minimum. If we do, we could be moved before Thanksgiving. There’s no maximum between the Notice of Default and the Notice of Sale though. Once we get a Notice of Sale, there’s both a minimum and a maximum, so everybody’s locked in. Until then, you could say this is artificial progress, but I’m still happy.

July looks to be an exciting month. Fireworks, perhaps the sun will finally come out, Olympics opening ceremonies, and potentially, a Notice of Sale.

Day 109: Two's No Worse Than One

Credit Score: 654

Phone Calls: 15

Emails: 3

Paper: 12

On-Time: 133/135

Greetings once again! I know it's been ages since my last update, but nothing's... really... happened. Although, I did miss Day 100 without even noticing! For shame.

No letters from the bank, three phone calls, no email, and a minor wobble in my credit score. It went up one point! Just at the turn of the month and my only guess for what that would be is because the average age of my credit lines went up? Nothing else changed.

I expected it to drop again as soon as I was reported for June, but it didn't actually. My on-time payments reflect that I was reported as unpaid for June, but it didn't change my credit score. Apparently going from one missed payment to two isn't so bad. The biggest hit comes from that one single missed payment.

We have gotten a few more notices from other lenders that my loan might qualify for the government programs - call today! They're not really tempting though. The only one that we would've qualified for before missing any payments would've been one to refinance without an appraisal to reduce the monthly payment. It showed a payment about 2/3 the price we had been paying, so that sure could've been tempting. If we'd wanted to stay, it would've been a great idea to refinance to the lower monthly payment (hopefully without extending the life of the loan any/much), and then continue to pay the previous amount. Still paying $1200/month when only $800 is due would get me some equity in the house a lot faster. But, once again, it's just good money after bad. We've got better things to do with that cash, and living rent free is pretty sweet.

Now that I'm talking about the default more, I'm hearing more and more stories about how long people have been in their homes without word from the bank. A commenter on one of my May posts has been in default for a year. A friend confided in me that he's at 14 months without even the Notice of Default. A friend of Cory's is at almost two years with no progress. We're the shortest of all these reports and I'm already frustrated that media/congress/anybody-useful isn't talking about extending the tax break. It's got to be even more frustrating for the people that started this in 2010, fully expecting to be done during the tax break but might not actually be.

If the tax break isn't extended, home owners have to get all the way through the process, with a sale under their belts, by Dec. 31st or they don't qualify. Regardless of how long the bank let them languish. It doesn't seem fair that the bank has all the power to decide who owes tens of thousands and who doesn't, based on how quickly they bother to do their paperwork. Perhaps we'll get something like the short sales just got - a deadline from A to B. 30 days to agree to a short sale offer. 3 months from default to notice of default, and the tax break applies to any that get the notice before January 1. Requiring that you complete the sale is so unfair to the people that will have been waiting and begging for bank action for years.

I know everyone tells you "life isn't fair" but that's only true because people make it so. People are unfair; life doesn't have to be.