My Car finance company sold my account when I filed for Ch 7

[kpaperhase]

I filed for chapter 7 in January of this year. I sent a reaffirmation agreement to my lender for my car offering to pay the value of the car off in monthly installments as i had been doing. I asked them to forgive the 2 payments that I was behind and start fresh the following month. I never heard anything from them so I called them after about 2 months. They told me that in order to do the affirmation agreement I had to be current on my payments. By this time I was about 3 months late. Fast Foward to October and my Ch 7 was discharged. I called my finance company and they said they sold my account. I called the new company and asked for their legal department so I could send the affirmation agreement. After about 2 weeks I called them and they said that they just got my account and it wasn't showing up in their system yet. They told me to call back in 2 weeks! I called back two weeks later and they had sold my account to another company!(You cant make this shit up). I called the phone number they gave me and a lady picked up and I gave her my name. She said that they had my account and that I didn't need to send them an affirmation agreement. She said to send my payments, cash or money order to a po box. She told me that if I was going to be more than 2 months late to call and let her know because they don't make outbound calls. So my question is, If I continue to pay my original monthly amount am I agreeing to pay the total cost that is owed on the vehicle.(I am upside down thats why i did the reaffirmation to save on the amount I would have to pay.) If I don't pay, can they come and take my vehicle?

[bcohen]

You are in over your head here. You do not want to reaffirm a vehicle loan, except under one circumstance: if you owe less than the car is worth, and the lender specifically requires reaffirmation. In that specific situation, it would make sense to reaffirm, because if the lender takes the car, you'd lose positive equity.

You have a car loan, where not only are you behind multiple months of payments, but you owe more than the car is worth. You seem to think (incorrectly) that reaffirmation reduces the balance of the loan to the vehicle's current value, and forgives your missed payments, but no lender is going to agree to those terms. All a reaffirmation would do is allow the lender to repossess the car, which they're going to do anyways once the automatic stay ends, and then come after you for the balance.

It sounds to me like you cannot afford this car, and the smart thing to do is pay nothing more toward this loan, and continue to drive it until it eventually gets repossessed. The bankruptcy discharge prevents your lender from reporting a repo on your credit reports, or attempting to collect any deficiency balance, so it will not be a problem to buy another car when the time comes.

If, however, you really like this vehicle, and can afford to make monthly payments going forward, you still should pay nothing else toward this loan, and make no more contact with this lender. Instead, you should attempt to redeem the car, while your bankruptcy is open, which would involve applying for a new loan--based only on the car's current value--with a different lender.

Note: Since your bankruptcy was already discharged, you'd have to reopen the bankruptcy to redeem the car, best to just make no payments, and drive it while you can, then buy something else that you can afford.

[justbroke]

You can't reaffirm anything after the discharge has been entered. There is a reason for that firm deadline, and it's mostly so that creditors don't try to coerce you into a reaffirmation agreement after the debt is discharged. You also may not be able to redeem the debt since the debt is already discharged.

This is from a bankruptcy filed in January of 2019. I don't understand how your discharge came in October of 2019 as discharges are typically entered 61+ days after your first 341 meeting. I agree with bcohen that you are in over your head and swimming in waters that are full of debt (collecting) sharks. They may try to take advantage of you. (Did you file the reaffirmation agreement with the court?)

I'm more concerned that you sent a reaffirmation agreement to them without an attorney. Without an attorney signing the reaffirmation agreement, a reaffirmation must go to a hearing, before a judge, and the judge must approve it. Most judges won't approve any reaffirmation agreement when the debtor is Pro Se... which is a good thing. Those same judges will usually enter an order denying the reaffirmation and, in the order denying the motion to reaffirm, order that the creditor cannot repossess unless the debtor fails to make payments under State non-bankruptcy laws.

Also, bcohen is on the money when it comes to the decision process. Here's an excellent write up and decision chart from the Florida Bar Association regarding redemptions and reaffirmations!

http://www.flmb.uscourts.gov/faqs/do...ationguide.pdf

[kpaperhase]

I did stay in bankruptcy for about 10 months. Even the trustee was ready to close the case. I had my 341 rescheduled and my case got continued twice. I did file an affirmation agreement with the court but it was rejected. At the time I felt like reaffirming the debt was the best thing to do, now I am glad that the court rejected it. Thanks for the info Its just stressful to not know for sure...

[justbroke]

It seems that your case ran into a few snags and your 341 Meeting was "continued." I am glad that the judge rejected the affirmation agreement. You get to continue to make your payments while enjoying the ability to stop and surrender the vehicle at any time.

i like that bcohen suggested doing a redemption, but it's likely too late for that. Redemption are usually done early in the process.