Chase Auto and Reaffirm Question

[Heather_NNJ]

I just filed Chap. 7 Pro Se (a few days ago)...so far so good. My question(s) are (1) do I wait for Chase Auto Finance to find out on their own that I filed Chapter 7 (its already appearing on my credit reports) or do I make the first move and advise them of my filing? (2) Do I forward the reaffirmation agreement to them, wait for them to return it signed to me and then file it with the court? This is the one aspect of the BK filing that has me confused.

Any suggestions, guidance and/or comments are greatly appreciated.

P.S. Its imperative that I keep the vehicle and I declared on my Statement of Intentions that I would be reaffirming the car.

[laurannm]

Did Chase require that you reaffirm?

[Heather_NNJ]

Chase has not contacted me yet. My credit report, just today, shows that I filed Chapter 7. Since I'm filing Pro Se, I don't have much guidance with the Reaffirm Agreement. Everything else has gone smoothly. I hate to call Chase but I don't want to wait until the last minute either. My payments have always been on time.

[HHM]

Please read through this post as it discusses the issues of reaffirmation

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=22616

Even though the post is mostly about mortgage reaffirmation, the same advice applies to cars as well.

[Heather_NNJ]

Thanks for the link to the thread HHM. I know there has been a lot of questions about the process of reaffirming and I truly hated to add my own question to the mix, but since the pro se filing process is going smoothly for me (knock on wood), I just needed a little guidance on the issue. Just making sure I have all my ducks in a row.....

[HHM]

The only additional thing to know about Reaffirmation and filing Pro-se is that you WILL have a reaffirmation hearing in front of a judge...assuming you decide to reaffirm. The purpose for the hearing is for the judge to determine if the reaffirmation agreement would be an undue hardship.

[FreshLikeADaisy]

Heather, I'm pro se too, so I understand.

The actual reaffirmation agreement will, if Chase wants one, be a document that Chase drafts and then submits to you for signature at some point during your bk, so you don't have to worry about creating one yourself. They probably wouldn't want it anyway; as the creditor they would want to set the terms. Since you're pro se, as HHM said, any reaff you decide to sign requires approval by the judge.

But in completing Form 8 (Stmt of Intent), as far as the court is concerned, you've already notified Chase that your intent is reaffirmation. (I am of course assuming you included Chase in your matrix. ) So if you wanted to, you could call Chase, but you may as well wait a few weeks because Chase will very likely contact you themselves. If you called right now, just after filing, you probably won't get far because their legal dept may not even have seen it yet. They most certainly will not have received the court notice this soon. Me, I'd wait until PACER shows the BNC Certificate of Notification (proof that notices were submitted to all creditors listed on your matrix, and when; it gets filed to your case 2-3 weeks after your original petition) and then wait a couple weeks after that.

So for now, relax, breathe freely, and enjoy the strangely silent unringing phone. Good luck!!!

[erinmi]

When we initially filed, we intended to reaffirm our cars, one of which was through Chase Auto. We had to call them and tell them we wanted to reaffirm, they did not contact us at all. It took them nearly a month to send the paperwork to our lawyer.

We ended up not reaffirming either of our cars, planning to do a ride through with Chase since we are about even in what we owe and what it is worth. We are letting our car through Ford Motor Company go because we are upside down by about $4000 and would have another 5 years to pay on it.

[Heather_NNJ]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. You have no idea how much I appreciate your advice. I assume that it won't be long before Chase finds out. I filed on 3/17 and it went live on Pacer on 3/19. All three credit reporting agencies are reporting the bk on my credit report and two of my credit cards have already become unavailable online...

Thanks again!!

[sharksfan]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. You have no idea how much I appreciate your advice. I assume that it won't be long before Chase finds out. I filed on 3/17 and it went live on Pacer on 3/19. All three credit reporting agencies are reporting the bk on my credit report and two of my credit cards have already become unavailable online...

Thanks again!!

I filed 3/6... Chase Auto is still reporting 'current'. I'm going to contact them shortly to touch base. When I called Ford, after inputting my SSN, I was sent straight to the BK department...