Filed Chapter 13 and need a loan mod

[Joel Fraser]

In 2002, my husband and I started a business after both of us were laid off from our jobs. For five years we struggled trying to get the business off the ground, and finally called it quits in the summer of 2007. In that time, we racked up a ton of debt on both credit cards ($150K) and mortgage refinances. We were using credit cards and HELOCS to fund the business and subsidize our living expenses. I tried back in January of 2007 to refinance our first mortgage ($384K) andour second HELOC ($114K) into one more affordable loan. The housing market and credit crunch had just begun it's slide at the time and I wasn't able to get my home to appraise high enough for an allowable loan to value ratio, and my then credit score of 691 was no longer good enough.Needless to say, we got stuck with it. Our payments climbed, and ourcredit dried availability dried up. We fell behind and in Fall 2007.We were offered a loan modification on our first mortgage with Litton Loan in November of 2007 via Titanium Solutions with a new interest of 8% and the arrears added to the loan balance, and made a good faith payment of $2900. I accepted it with optimism as my husband had started a new job that summer and I had just accepted a job offer that month to start in December. Despite the new jobs, we still couldn't afford the credit card payments (stopped paying them) and could barely afford the mortgage. I lost my job in February after just 3 months, and our home went in to foreclosure. I am currently emplyed only part-time and continue to look for a full-time job. Our home was set for sale on June 26th. We filed for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy on June 24th and that has stopped the sale of our house for now as we work through everything. Although the Chapter 13 payment plan can bring us current on our mortgage via a court designated payment plan to pay the arrears, our mortgages are still pretty steep and we cannot afford them as is,$2900/month at 8% on $394K with Litton Loan and a HELOC of $800/month at 11% on $114K. Our house has an approx. market value of$365K currently. I had heard and read about alot of mortgage companiesforgiving portions of principle balances to allow for an affordable payment.I sought help from a company that attempts loan modifications on your behalf with the lenders. They weren't able to help me since I was now more than 3months behind and because I have filed for bankruptcy. We chose Chapter 13 vs. Chapter 7 as we really want to try to keep the house. I am planning to do a QWR as you suggested but I really don't know if the lender did anything wrong during the loan process. Our mortgage was acquired through New Century Mortgage Corp. in Irvine(now defunct). Can I request a QWR for review purposes anyway? I hope I didn't ramble to the pint of confusing everyone. Please help!I don't even know how to begin.