Just served with a summons

[karibaa]

Ugh, after not paying my Barclay card for 19 months I just got served with the court papers. Thinking the other creditors summons will be forthcoming. Guessing it's finally time to file Chapter 7, and hoping I can keep my house with no equity and my car with $3,000. I'm current on both, so will it be most likely I can keep them? The creditors can't just decide to take my house and car just because I filed since I'm current, right?

[justbroke]

No. They can't take any property just because you filed bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is specifically to protect property for which there are exemptions.

Since your home has no equity and you are paying on-time (not in arrears), there is absolutely no issue. The nice thing is that you could still discharge your personal liability to pay the debt, but keep the home and keep paying on time. You can't be foreclosed upon unless you are actually not paying (or not maintaining hazard insurance, but banks typically just force place insurance in these cases).

As for the vehicle, it's the same thing. I don't know how much equity you have in the vehicle, but you would protect any equity with an available exemption. Some lenders may require that you "reaffirm" the debt which means that you remain liable for paying the debt. Since you are not in arrears, and paying on time, you should have no issue other than the question of reaffirmation.

[karibaa]

Thanks for the info : )