341 Meeting today question about reafirmations

[ezgo68]

We had our 341 meeting today. It went smoothly with no problems. I asked our lawyer after the meeting about reafirming the house and car. He said his clients usually don't reafirm them, they just continue making the payments and keep the house. He said the new laws state that if we don't reafirm the mortgage company can forclose on the home even if we are current on payments. He said so far since the new laws came into effect this has never happened. He said if we do reafirm it and something happens like loss of income, the mortgage company can forclose and come after us with a judgement for the difference for what we owe and what it is worth.

Has anyone ever heard of this? If it is true would it be that we are merely renting our home and the equity that builds up is not ours since we didn't reafirm?

[Beach Bum]

Reaffirm cars is required with new laws if you want to keep.
House is not. Just keep paying.

[NYCountry]

I reaffirmed my mtg because the payments will show up on the credit reports and if I didn't reaffirm nothing would show up. I figured it would help with my reestablishment of credit because I am paying more than I have to and earlier. Another thing my reaffirmation did for me was lower my interest rate A LOT! I couldn't believe the new loan rate.

[SinkingFast]

Under New Law, you have to Reaffirm or Surrender. There is no Ride Thru like under Old Law.

BUT attnys have been beating the Law by not filing Reaffirmation Agreements within the prescribed time frame. Reaffirmation Agreements signed by both parties have to be filed with the Court prior to Discharge. If you get Discharged with no signed Reaffirmation filed, then the debt is technically Discharged as well.

So far, mortgage Lenders are not going after houses. Auto Lenders are not going after cars. Will that hold??!! Good question.

Once the housing market stabilizes and property values begin to appreciate again,............ Could be Lenders might go looking to make some easy money of properties where no Reaffirmation Agreements were signed.

If you happen to have financed a unique or valuable car,.......... Could be your Auto Lender might seize and sell "their" property once you have significant equity.

Hasn't happened yet. But it's definitely a risk.

[manglicmot]

My attorney did not have me reaffirm my car loan, and he has not reaffirmed for anyone since the new law went into effect. BUT, he did say that he is fighting with Ford Credit and he lost a case that he didn't reaffirm. However, he is appealing that ruling to a higher court. I don't know why he would do that, the new law is pretty clear - you must reaffirm.

Unless you want the payments reported to the CRA's it is not in your best interest to reaffirm anyway. And I definitely do not care about my credit anymore. I am done with credit.

My car loan is through Ford Credit, I hope that I can get a discharge before they force a reaffirmation. I spoke to Ford Credit on the phone when I wanted to find out what address to mail my payment to, and they told me that they are mailing a reaffirmation agreement to my attorney. The 60 day clock is ticking, I may have a chance of discharge before Ford Credit can get me into court.

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

Im in Virginia, and I didn't have to reaffirm my loan with Hyundai Finance. When I filed Ch13, HF sent me a notice to send payments to a different address (their BK office), and they said they couldn't send me any "reminder," statements and that I am responsible for making my car payment on time the 14th of every month. When I converted to Ch7 they started sending me monthly invoices again and my payments were directed "as it was in the beginning," BEFORE I filed. Guess I'm doing a ride through. So it all depends on the Finance Company you are dealing with.

Best of Luck, CMIYC

[BKTango]

Be forwarned that by doing a reaffirm just to make sure they are reported to the cra's doesn't always work in your favor. Several people have reaffirmed mortgages and cars and they are still not reporting as being paid. Also even though there are no more ride through's, the creditors still have to abide by your states law. If you state says you can keep property as long as you are making on time payments, then a creditor can't do anything. That was put into case law January 2007.

[DivorceRuinedMe]

Be forwarned that by doing a reaffirm just to make sure they are reported to the cra's doesn't always work in your favor. Several people have reaffirmed mortgages and cars and they are still not reporting as being paid. Also even though there are no more ride through's, the creditors still have to abide by your states law. If you state says you can keep property as long as you are making on time payments, then a creditor can't do anything. That was put into case law January 2007.

BKTANGO - where can you find out if your state is one of the states you mention above? And how do you get the mortgage company and car loan companies to report properly? Is there anything that can be done about that to help ensure they report or is the debtor basically just SOL? Maybe by saving cancelled checks you could prove you paid timely if the issue ever arose and you needed to prove you were credit-worthy? I'm just trying to think of alternatives if they won't play nice.

[BKTango]

I'm not sure where you can find out if your state is one of those, I just know the one I'm sitting in is. As far getting them to report, some members here have had the problem of them not posting even though they reaffirmed, they just kept disputing it with the creditor and some got it corrected, and some never have gotten their loans to post correctly. I guess you would just keep disputing it with the creditor. We had reaffirmed our home, but thanks to the lawyers for the mortgage company they didn't file it in time, their fault not ours. They told us point blank that at anytime if we needed a payment history they would print one out for us to show we were still making payments on time. Our mortgage company doesn't really care for the reaffirms anyway, they said they don't pursue the debtor signing them. I make sure to make my payments around the 20th of every month, so as not to even get close to the 1st and I make my payments in person to get a receipt, I also make copies of my checks and that receipt I get, before that I sent them certified return receipt to have proof of them receiving payment before the due date. Always have a paper trail. That's the best advice I can give.