Dell Financial "Secured" interest claim and selling a vehicle...questions...

[Licoriceky2]

[Majakat]

My atty told me the same thing, that they are secured - we are going to give the computers back if they want them...

[Licoriceky2]

Have you filed yet? How long ago was yours charged? Did your atty advise you to fight it or just relinquish them? All the threads I have seen on here basically state that they (Dell) will just go away if you ignor them or your atty sends a letter, however my attorney seems to have more of a "get it done" attitude...I could care less about the lap top but I am concerned about the camcorder as I do not want to loose it (only bought six months ago)

[Majakat]

No I havent filed yet - She has told me to be aware they might want the property back - if you want to buy it back from the estate they would allow you, i suppose, it just isnt that important to me -

I am filing in August if we can hold out that long!

[Majakat]

Also, you could sell the truck and put it in a ROth IRA - if it goes into the estate no exempt the Trustee will automatically get it!

[LadyInTheRed]

Can you exempt the computer and camcorder? If so, ask your attorney if you could sell the truck and use the proceeds to pay off Dell. I don't think you have a preference issue when paying a secured debt, but I'm not sure.

If you can't (or don't want to) do that, I think you should take your attorney's advice and sell your truck. If you can't exempt the cash and don't want to risk the trustee taking it, use the proceeds to stock up on exempt items (food, cleaning products, clothing, etc.). You pay your attorney to advise you on these issues. Unless you have reason to think he is not giving you good advice, you should follow it.

[Licoriceky2]

LadyInTheRed, great idea...however if I got, lets say $5k, and I spent $1k on food, $2K on clothing for all three of us and $2k on formula, diapers, baby expenses etc, would they then have cause to look closer at my budget or adjust same for a period of time with the argument that I had "stocked up" on same so therefor I should not be entitled to budget for these items for a period of time?

[CCB35]

I had a preferred acount with dell for about$1500 on a pc .they never filed a claim
saved me that money

[LadyInTheRed]

LadyInTheRed, great idea...however if I got, lets say $5k, and I spent $1k on food, $2K on clothing for all three of us and $2k on formula, diapers, baby expenses etc, would they then have cause to look closer at my budget or adjust same for a period of time with the argument that I had "stocked up" on same so therefor I should not be entitled to budget for these items for a period of time?

Ask your attorney to be sure, but stocking up on exempt items is recommended here all the time. As long as the items fall under your state's exemptions, there shouldn't be a problem. The Roth IRA suggestion is also a good one.

[LadyInTheRed]

Another thing to remember is that if you have non-exempt property in a 13, the trustee doesn't take it. Your plan just needs to pay the unsecured creditors at least the value of the non-exempt property. To put it another way, they have to receive at least what they would receive if you filed Chapter 7 and your non-exempt assets were liquidated.

[SMinGA]

You are filing chapter 13, correct? Do you anticipate any money being available to pay unsecured?

If so, keeping the truck (if you feel you need it) should be a non-issue. The value of non-exempt assets creates a minimum that must be paid to unsecured. People normally do not lose assets in a ch. 13. If you feel you can do without it, then selling it now and using the $ where needed (home repairs, medical/dental needs you have put off, etc.) would also protect it.

For Dell, personally they did not file a claim as secured but I owed them less. About $1600 now with fees. If they file a claim - then telling them to come get the items (if you can do without them) would be my choice. Or agreeing to pay as priority debt anything you needed/didn't want to risk. Chances are decent though that they don't want your stuff and would not want to invest money in reacquiring it.

I do recall that you've mentioned in other posts that you have a lot of non-exempt assets, and so will have a minimum payback to unsecured. I can understand trying to limit that as you don't have unlimited DMI to pay a plan payment. If you're trying to make sure your plan payment stays where you can afford, without further increasing the payback to unsecured, then selling the truck - using funds on necessary expenses and having less non-exempt assets is the way to go.

[SMinGA]

Regarding stocking up on food, supplies: check your state's bankruptcy exemptions. Some specifically state 'x months worth of food', and similar for exemptions.

I would not stock up too much on diapers - I recall my kids sometimes wore a certain size for a while and sometimes seemed to zoom thru a particular size very quickly. Unless you buy at Walmart perhaps, they're great with exchanges. And regarding formula - check the dates. I never used formula so don't know how long of a shelf life it has.

[Majakat]

SM in GA - the minimum payback to secured for your assets - do they add it on to the DMI calculation, like if in the DMI calc you can pay a total of 9k back, and you have 10k in assets - do they make you pay 19k? or just the 10k you would have in assets?

[SMinGA]

If you have a minimum payback to unsecured, then you must be able to show enough DMI to create a feasible plan.

In your example, you'd have to pay enough to cover $10k to unsecured. (Not $19k.)

It gets a little dicey if someone must file ch. 13, such as to save a house, but has limited DMI. Afterall, you can only cut back so much and one can't really live on a minimal food & clothing budget for 3-5 years. The mortgage arrears is priority debt - does not count in the 'minimum to unsecured'. So say you owe $10k mortgage arrears and have non-exempt assets of $10k. You have to pay off both, plus trustee fee and any atty fees if not paid in full before filing. If you cannot create a plan with enough DMI to resolve it all, you will not get confirmed. (Trustee can dismiss for lack of feasibility.)

SM in GA - the minimum payback to secured for your assets - do they add it on to the DMI calculation, like if in the DMI calc you can pay a total of 9k back, and you have 10k in assets - do they make you pay 19k? or just the 10k you would have in assets?

[catleg]

Dell will file as an unsecured creditor, have no fears. List them as such.
They are a creditor in my ch13. (By way of explanation I read someplace that Purchase Money Security Interest only applies when the vendor also provides the financing. In the case of Dell it's a third party CIT ).