How was your home “overvalued” by BOA? I am sure at the time of the loan it was valued correctly. Then when the housing market took a dip that’s when the problems arose.

If you work and make payments on time each month you are#t outta luck they ain’t gonna give anybody that’s trying anything. We are the ones gonna have to pay for this.

MOST of your conclusions are wrong.
1. Payments on the line of credit WILL be applied to interest first with any remainder applied to principle.
2. Unless you actually pay the SAME $ amount in interest, you will NOT receive the same tax deduction.
3. Because you rent out the second home, it is NOT a second home for tax purposes. It is an INVESTMENT property.
4. The ONLY way you will come out WAY ahead is to PAY OFF debt, not just rename it.

you can absolutely do this and it might help you pay off the primary mortgage much faster. Just make sure to put more than the minimum payment on the line of credit to reduce the balance

The only down fall would be the loss of income especially if the condo went unrented for a time. The better idea would be to refinance your home mortgage at a lower rate

yes, by a factor of 2

None of the above.

Equity is the current fair market value minus the remaining debt.
Since the fair market value will change due to outside forces, you cannot predict what the equity will look like in the future.

Even if the house value climbs from $200K to $400K and the equity changes from negative $100K to $100K, the loan balance is UNAFFECTED.

The reason you get a loan modification has relatively nothing to do with the FMV. It has to do with your ability to pay the loan as you originally agreed to do. The problem with dropping housing prices is that people who lost their jobs discovered they couldn’t sell or refinance.

If you get a loan modification and now will pay 5 years longer on the loan, your equity position will be less than someone who never had their loan modified.

Read the loan modification agreement. That is the only way to know for sure.

here are some credit card debt answer:

After going bankrupt, it is hard, if not impossible to get a loan for a while. Then when you can it will be real high interest. But if you owe a bunch on credit cards, and can only make the minimum payments, which doesn’t get you anywhere. You might be better off to do it. As far as the house, if you get any large lump sum payments within 6 months of going bankrupt, you have to pay quite a bit of it to the court. So I wouldn’t sell your house for a while.

Actually, the initial visit with a bankruptcy lawyer is free. They will explain it better, and give honest advice.

What we did was … my wife owed a bunch on her cards, and medical. But I didn’t. So we just filed on her, and it didn’t affect me. So I was still able to get car loans and stuff.