Do I have to give a reason

[chapter72006]

We filed bankruptcy and were discharged in 2006. We have had a car loan since shortly after discharge and have never been late on a payment, have mainted a positive balance in our bank account, and have not been delinquent on any other bills. We have banked at the same bank since the day we filed bankruptcy. We approached the loan officers at the bank for a small loan in an attempt to begin rebuilding our credit-2500 dollars is all. That was one month ago. We have been jumping through hoops to get this loan figured out, but decided it was worth the hoops to start building our credit back with a bank. We had a small tax lien (14$) which was on our credit, and we paid that, but they wouldn't take the "notice of impending discharge of tax lien" they had to have the actual certified letter from our state. Then they wanted us to take out insurance on the ATV's we were borrowing money against, so we did that. They also want three ATV titles which value at 6k all titled in our name. So we did that. They required a 2 year note even though we only wanted 1, and they required credit life. So far we have spent 280$ just attempting to get this small loan. Now they are requiring my husband and I to write a specific letter stating why we filed bankrupty in 2006 with specifics. Is this even legal for them to require this reason?

[banca rotta]

I personally would never pay anyone anything to borrow money ever again. With the $280 and some more savings you can or could have gotten a secured credit card which will report to the "big three".

Unless you need the ATV's to make a living you should consider selling them and using it to secure a card as well as an emergency fund.

Don't want to sound like I am picking on you but these "small loans" put good people like you and I here to begin with.

They can probably do anything they want since you are borrowing money from them.

[danaf]

I agree with Banca Rotta - it's too much. Screw them. No need for them to try to humiliate you. If they don't want your business then move on....someone else will. And I'd let them know this.

[TEW]

I would NOT do business with that bank they are making that a secured loan with property that is worth way more then the loan.
There are better ways to fix your credit look on this forum about people buying new cars a week after discharge. By the way my lawyer suggest I put a statement on my credit report when this is over. Explaining why you had a BK.
Have you cleaned your credit report?

[AngelinaCat]

We borrowed a small sum, $5000.00, from American General. Our collateral was a 1991 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser Wagon and a 1992 (I think) Cadillac Deville. We had these cars insured with our own insurance company, because we drove them.

After about 6 months into paying American General back, they decided that OUR insurance was not good enough for them. They imposed their OWN insurance on one of the cars—I don’t remember which—that we had to pay over and above the payback for the original loan. We did NOT agree to this. Also, at this time our finances were in the toilet and we started being late on payments--more fees. They would not cancel their insurance and gave every appearance of not wanting to work with us.

When the Olds backfired and caught fire in the driveway, we duly informed AG. ‘Hub requested paperwork to fill out so that they could at least get some recompense. AG then told us that we were liable—that the insurance was for the OTHER car. Hmmmmmm, you would impose insurance on one piece of collateral and not the other? So this went on a few more months. The Caddy had been bought used with engine changed out [never a good sign.]. We knew it had problems as it had been breaking down and was not reliable at all. ‘Hub took it to the garage and when we got the estimate for over 1K to just fix it temporarily, he gave it to the shop for the cost of the estimate.

We reported all this to AG. I don’t know whatever happened with the insurance there, but as it seemed to be very slippery as to what this damned insurance policy actually was attached to, we no longer cared. By this time we had lost the ability to even think about trying to pay this company back—especially at its usurious terms.

We threw these pariahs upon the heaps of our debt matrix, and they had the unmitigated GALL to try to slip a reaffirmation agreement to us by way of mailing it to our Trustee, who gave it to us at our 341.

We did NOT sign and AG can just go and [you fill in the blank. I can’t think of a bad enough term.]