Chapter 13 2nd Mortgage Lien Stripping

A 2nd mortgage, or home equity line of credit, has two things over you:

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy discharges the Note or the Loan, but you still have the Lien or Trust Deed on your house.  Even after your bankruptcy, your 2nd mortgage lender can foreclose the lien, but in order to do so, it must first pay off the 1st mortgage and any unpaid property taxes.

This is a big difference between the two chapters of  Consumer Bankruptcy.  After a chapter 7 is over and completed, the 2nd mortgage could still foreclose on the house later.  Over time, the value of the property will go up. The house will appreciate.  After it’s value increases to a point where the value of the house is greater than the balance on the first mortgage, the 2nd mortgage would be in a position to foreclose the property.

1.  Get an appraisal.  We must be able to credibly state that the value of the home is significantly lower than the balance on the 1st mortgage.   If your value is lower but close, you run the risk of expensive litigation in order to strip your 2nd mortgage or home equity line of credit.  Of course, if the balance on the 2nd is large compared to the cost of the litigation, then it’s worth the effort.  As long as you know that the attorney’s fees could be significant as you’re going into the deal, then it’s fine if you want to spend the money.  Nevertheless, those attorney’s fees would be on a three to five year payment plan so it should be manageable.

2.  If the value of the home is lower than the balance on the first and it is significantly lower, then the mortgage lender on the 2nd mortgage or Heloc, Home Equity Line of Credit, won’t fight it, and you’ll win by default.

3.  If the value of the home is greater than the balance on the first, even just a little bit, then you lose and you’re stuck with the whole 2nd mortgage.   Remember however, there is a difference between your primary residence and your rental properties.  Respecting your primary residence, you can only remove your 2nd mortgage, or not.  Rental properties however, can have 2nd mortgages removed, 1st mortgages reduced, or if the value of the home is above the balance on the 1st mortgage, the 2nd mortgage (or heloc) could be reduced so that the total balances on all mortgages are equal to the value of the property.

Chapter 7s are risky. We don’t know how long it will take the values of our real estate to increase.  If you do a chapter 7, you will discharge the loan, or promissory note.  Nevertheless, you will still have the deed of trust still attached to the house.  So at some point you must settle that 2nd mortgage with that bank.

Chapter 13s are risky too.  They can allow you to strip the 2nd mortgage off the house completely.  Risky because chapter 13 (on your primary residence) requires that you immediately go back to paying your regularly scheduled monthly mortgage payments on your 1st.  If the 1st mortgage has not yet been modified on the date of filing the bankruptcy, then you’d be stuck with the unmodified mortgage payments.

All chapter 13s must be approved by the judge assigned to your case.  Called a confirmation order, many cases end up falling short because people who want to remove the 2nd mortgage often propose payment plans that are unrealistic.  In other words the budgets they propose for themselves are just too tight.  Your attorney will refer to such a budget as unfeasible.  Feasibility just means that you really can afford to make the monthly payment to the bankruptcy trustee on your case.  To be confirmed, a case must be feasible, and you must convince your judge and your bankruptcy trustee that you can afford to to make the chapter 13 plan payments.

Additionally, most chapter 13s never get completed once they are confirmed.  More than 70% don’t get a chapter 13 discharge because something happens that derails the payment plan such as a work stoppage or an illness, or even just a busted transmission.  Either your earning capacity has been reduced or your ability to pay has been eclipsed by a more pressing expense.