BK 13 payment increase

[Carmella]

Our BK 13 payment increases when our other car that was not in the accident, but is not drive-able is paid off.

I got the letter from the trustee today, it was too late to call the attorney's office with the question.

It says the payment increases as of December 31, 2021. Does that mean I need to pay the increased amount during the month of December or will it start in January?

If it's in December that stinks because the last car payment is due December 26 so that means I will have to pay the payment plus pay the same payment amount on the BK!

And the pay off amount is higher so I really probably will not have it paid off until January, but I guess that is irrelevant it just stinks!

I also need to check and see if I pay it directly or if my payroll people will take care of it, plus they changed to a new building and I don't know if the trustee has the current address.

It's always something. I am calling the attorney now more than I have in the last 1.5 yrs.

[justbroke]

I would think it means ... "for payments after December 31, 2021 ..."

Also if your attorney intervenes for the replacement vehicle, by calling the Trustee, maybe they can work something out so that your payment does not increase. You'd have to work that out with the attorney and the attorney would need to see if the Chapter 13 Trustee was willing to do that in light of your vehicle being destroyed.

We must all remember that a vehicle is always necessary for the "rehabilitate of the debtor" -- which is the purpose of a Chapter 13. Without being able to work, there's no way to fund a Chapter 13. Everyone, including the Trustees and attorneys, knows that.

[Zombie13]

Carmella - does the letter also state payment amount, for specific months of the plan such as:
Months 1-36: $500
Months 37-60: $1000
If so you can refer to the calendar to determine when the increased payment starts.
I agree, that can be confusing/misleading. But I believe justbroke ke is correct.
The letter says, 'beginning December 31 2021', so the increased payment is required beginning with the January 2022 payment. Note that, if you make your January payment in December, then the December payment will need to be the 'increased' version. If you make your January payment in January, then the first increased payment would be in January, not in December.
I suppose this is something the payroll group will need to handle; they need to make the increased payment in a timely fashion. If necessary, can you make an additional payment online, to stay current? We use this sti online epayment manager system.
Yep, always something, I hear you.

[flashoflight]

My original plan looked like zombie13's. Month 1-8 $500. Month 9-60 $1000. Didn't matter I paid the car loan off in month 7 for $5 since it was a partial payment. I didn't pay the trustee extra until the 9th payment. Not my job to figure out if the plan is correct. I'm just a dumb debtor.

[Carmella]

justbroke I don't have the letter right here with me, but the attorney recommended to get a car with close as possible to the same payment. It will be a replacement car, not petitioning for a new car. We have (or had) two cars mine the 2017 which was in excellent condition and the 2011 which we cannot drive due to major repairs needed we cannot afford to fix and even if we could afford it's the point where most people would sink the money into a newer car vs repairing.
On the books we have two cars and two car payments. 2017 is totaled and should be easy enough to replace once we secure financing and petition for it, it will cost $350 at least to go to court via the attorney not us personally. They think we can get the car replaced, but it could take up to 60 days and I am not sure if that's from when I get all the paperwork in place or if it's from the time they start the court process. They cannot push it through court any faster so we have to do our part ASAP to expedite the process.
The 2011 car is the one that has the final payment in December. The pay off cost around $200 more in addition to the regular payments.

flashoflight
Zombie13
Yes it's in the orginal BK 13 plan/paperwork for the payment to increase by $227 a month which I think it was for the final 16 months which would put us at January. We were told when we no longer had the car payment that amount of money would have to go into the BK payment.

The dilemma is while we are awaiting this process we have no car, we have no family who could loan us a car, etc. We will have to rent a car for possibly 60 or more days through Nov, Dec probably into Jan. We have to get someone to finance us and wait until it clears the court system. There are dealerships who work with BK and the dealership I have been at says they do. I will get the list from the attorney of dealerships they know of, but I had their list in the past and some were no longer doing it and some are a good 60 miles away and if I have any say I want a nearby dealership in case there are recalls or repairs etc and I really like the dealership I have been with for 20 yrs. Obviously I will do whatever I have to do to get a car and in another 18 or so months I will have more opportunity to replace the car if it's something I really don't like.

At this point I just want reliable transportation and will take what I can get. I must say I have priorities so I will try to keep them, but if I can't I have to do what I have to do.

And we wanted to try to get DH a car. I was hoping maybe in the spring. I want to sell the 2011 when we get the title. It is a junker we don't expect much. To BUY an ADDITIONAL car it's more complicated and you have to write out a budget and propose how you will pay for it, but I was hopeful that we would be in the final stretch with less than a year and it would be easier to get court approval. From what I read in the attorney's letter in the 2017 car they don't need the budget since the plan already has that $305 payment and if we keep the payment the same it does not change the budget.

While we will be replacing the 2011 we don't have it in budget to do that since the payment amount is now going towards BK payment.

It really just stinks, but it is what it is. I am worried about paying for a rental car once the insurance coverage stops. And to get financing because if I am lucky enough to get the fair market value for the 2017 I was hoping to pay off the loan and have $ for a down payment, but now I might have to tap into that money for rental car and hope I can get financing with a lesser down payment.

I stopped at the dealership on Saturday, but no one can help me at this point since the finance guy was not there, he had a long weekend off. I was going to go today, but I think until I have all the details from the insurance I won't waste my time except for phone calls. When we have enough.

I plan to call the attorney today to get a list of other dealerships just in case and to ask about the increase payment and to see if I need to give them the new payroll office address.

[Barbisi]

Carmella, you are so right -this totally sucks!
If we were in your shoes, it would be exactly the same because we have no family or friends who would/could help us out. The only saving grace would be that I don't have to work right now, and my husband probably could work from home only, once he explained the situation. (He's back at work 30 miles away at least four days a week now.) So I empathize with just how fed up and frustrated you must be, even though we are not in your crappy situation as of this moment.
I hope you can get money back for the extended rental car from the accident settlement, since you shouldn't have to pay for that (it was the kid's fault after all that you don't have a vehicle to drive and it may put your or your husband's job in jeopardy.) It certainly would qualify as an expense directly related to the wreck, and should be eligible under some insurance reimbursement provision or at least it should be!
You deserve only great luck going forward!!!!!

[Carmella]

Barbisi I will try to get as much rental from insurance as I can. I know that my policy covers 28 days I don't know if they will cover 28 days when his insurance stops. That may be 5-7 days after I get all the info regarding the totaled car.

I decided not to call the attorney's office until I get all the info on the car. That might be today. When I find out how much they are paying me it makes sense to call then instead of calling more than once I will ask all my questions in one call.

I also realized I will NOT have a car payment this month on the 2017 and I can use that money towards my pay off balance on the 2011. I will add extra to my November payment and in December I will call for the pay off balance.

This is really stressful as I think my husband is more upset about not having a car to himself and here we are getting a new car that I will primarily drive. I know it's an awful situation, but it is what it is. And even my suggestion about once we have the title on the 2011 we can go through the whole process to try to justify another car on our current income (income minus the BK payment). Trust me I don't like driving him around anymore than he likes not having a car. He has never put much effort into finances or budgets so I can't expect him to have more insight, I guess.

I also realize I may have to use some of the money we get for the car to pay for the rental once insurance stops. I would really like to put whatever money is left after paying off the 2017 into a down payment. Oh well we do what we have to do during BK 13

[shipo]

Here's a thought, with the insurance settlement money, can you get the 2011 repaired and back on the road?

[Barbisi]

Carmella, my hubby is usually pretty good with the bill paying , planning and such, but when it comes to bargain bins, sale racks, cheap restaurant deals and the like , I'm definitely queen - LOL!!! ( And I'm the one who would complain to high heaven if I didn't have the 18 year old beater I do have to get around the few places I do need to go now.( i.e. chiro, PT, cheap hair salon, gym ,etc.))
Of course this BK13 doesn't leave much room for those harmless little hobbies but we still manage to snag somethings, especially when we really need to.
Getting out of junker hell isn't going to be easy, but maybe shipo has a point- if you could repair and then drive the "totaled" car until after discharge/closing, you could at least not have an additional payment to struggle with. (I had an accident in Virginia in which my car was "totaled" but luckily was still drivable (without any repairs) and we took the settlement and payed off the other car and ended up with no car payment for about 5 years until 2013 (when we bought our newest vehicle while our credit was at its highest. This was before the fixer-upper debacle of 2014 into 2016 which has ruined our financial standing for years to come.)
Again, only better luck going forward!

[Carmella]

shipo That is an interesting idea to fix up the 2011 and sure got my attention.

I believe we will have maybe $4,500 after the 2017 is paid off. Some of that money will go into a rental once the insurance is no longer covering it. Based on the plan to buy another car it could be up to 2 months so that's a lot of $$ for rental car.

I don't remember the exact amounts the car would be to repair, but it maybe over that amount. It included the hydrolic system, brakes, exhaust, and I can't remember what else. It would need a battery and tires as well on top of the repairs. It has been sitting a long time. When I was given the estimate I was also told once they start repairing the problems there may be other parts that need repair/replaced once they get in there.

I am fearful if it were fixed what if something else went wrong and it we be throwing money into a money pit on wheels ???

I have been slow completing all the paperwork just overwhelmed between the accident and stress on my job. I have paperwork for a few departments in the insurance company, the hospital, the car dealer. We haven't talked with the drunk driver's insurance playing phone tag and I think the guy doesn't want to talk to me or my daughter's boyfriend. Boyfriend has been calling him and can't get him in person. I have tried returning calls or text, but not aggressively trying which I guess I should.

All my paperwork will be completed today.

[shipo]

The one thing you may also want to consider is, once you've fixed up the 2011, you'll have a saleable asset versus a junker worth $500 (or less) to your local junk yard. True you the value may well not come up to what you spend on it to get it back on the road, but in the end it may be your most cost effective option to keep a daily driver until your Chapter 13 ends.

[Barbisi]

@Carmella,I think I misunderstood which car shipo was referring to -not the "totaled" car, but the junk vehicle idling in your driveway-my bad LOL!
BK13 definitely makes you try some unconventional solutions just to get through - another reason not to "enjoy" the experience!

[shipo]

Regarding the car replacement thing while in a Chapter 13, I needed to go through it and got stupid lucky; the car I ended up with was 11 years old and had 114,000 miles on it when I bought it for cash in 2017 and it is still going strong with over 175,000 miles on it. Quite honestly, if I was so inclined (and I may very well be) to keep it until say, 2030, I believe it will still be going strong then with what will probably be well over 300,000 miles on it (I say this because there are numerous folks on a forum for my car who have as many as 500,000 miles on their cars and they are still used as daily drivers). My only real hesitation will be parts availability as there are a few parts which are already becoming hard to find, and this issue will only get worse over time.

So, was breaking open my piggy bank during my 4th year of bankruptcy easy? No. Did I eat a diet of "beans and franks" for a few months? Yes. Long story short, it seriously sucks to need to buy a car while in the midst of a Chapter 13. That said, a judicious purchase can pay huge dividends down the road as once the coveted discharge comes through, you can spend the next year or three rebuilding your nest egg instead of needing to finance a new car.