Your best bet is going to be to take advantage of teh first tiem free meeting with a lawyer and get some advice on someone who knows Michigan law. The first thing you can do is ask the debt collector for a fax number, fax over a letter requesting they do not contact you be telephone at home , work and cell phones. that wiol first get you some peace and quiet. Then seek advice of an attorney, also check on your state websites, use google to try and researh the statutes there in MI. If no luck call your attorney generals office or a state 1-800 help line that can point you in teh right direction. good luck working things out

Each state is different. I recommend you call a lawyer to be sure where you stand

Hi Starting Over,

If your lender foreclosed by Judicial Foreclosure which would have been through the courts and were able to obtain a deficiency judgment against you then you may have the legal obligation to pay that debt. Also, if your loan was a refinanced loan (recourse loan) and your lender foreclosed by non-judicial foreclosure and is owed the money then again you may have the legal obligation to pay that debt. For FREE you can take your paper work and go see a HUD Counselor and they will be able to explain your paper work to you.

Questions for you
How did the lender foreclose Judicial or Non-Judicial?
Was your loan a purchase loan or refinanced loan?

If you are legally obligated to pay the debt you can always try to offer a 10% payoff? Make sure you get the paperwork that releases you fully of the entire debt.

If you are legally obligted to pay the debt and you cannot and the lender wants to place liens on other properties or garnish your wages and has the legal right to do so, then you may consider bankruptcy which is not fun but it is a good way to shake off debt especially if we are talking about $100,000 dollars.

Start with those questions and speak with a Hud counselor, here is a link and then see where you stand and what your legal obligations are and then you will know. You can always go see an attorney of course, they are just expensive and for free a Hud Counselor can assist you. Good luck!
http://www.Hud.gov

My 2 cents: I would interview several attorneys to handle this for you. One thing jumps out at me: The bank declined to mitigate their loss at $30,000 and instead foreclosed upon you for a $116,000 loss.

Most initial consultations with attorneys are free of charge. Please seek the advice of one (or two or three).

Frankly, I would love to see some precedence set in the State of Michigan in regards to this type of situation. (The bank declining a short sale and therefore increasing your deficiency balance.)