ford motor credit co-signer

[Doneygalpb]

My husband filed bk and I did not. We have 2 loans for cars thru Ford motor credit. He is having to reaffirm both and hearing is set for 11-20-2008. At this hearing can they not reaffirm even if we can afford the payments and have been making them with extra monies going toward priniciple each month? The cars are in my name first and my husband as co-signer. Also, my attorney (legal helpers) said it is their policy to not sign any reaffirmations for vehicles. There is no way we can get the interest rates we have now after bk on car loans and we have to have these cars as my husband travels all over Florida for work and I travel all over county for my job. Any ideas? Also, on one of the cars, we are upside down on it because we traded in a big gas sucking truck that no one wants at the present economy but it is under warranty and great on gas! Thanks for any and all advice!

[JRScott]

If you are the primary I don't see why he even needs to reaffirm as a bk on his part will not absolve your responsibility to pay for the vehicles.

[StartingOver08]

I usually agree with JRScott because he knows what he is doing with this BK stuff. But there is a problem with Ford Motor and reaffirmation agreements. See this link:
http://www.************************/...-and-keep-pay/

Quote from Bankruptcy Law Network below (June 2007)

[JRScott]

Since she is primary and not filing bankruptcy then I don't see his need to reaffirm. The only way I can see him needing to reaffirm is if he needs the expense to keep him in a Chapter 7 rather than a Chapter 13.

To answer the initial question though, yes the judge can refuse to sign the reaffirmation agreement if he finds that it places an undue burden upon your husband. However even if he does dismiss the reaffirmation and assuming your husband was still allowed to complete his Chapter 7 you as primary would still be responsible to pay for the vehicles.

[happy_ira]

However even if he does dismiss the reaffirmation and assuming your husband was still allowed to complete his Chapter 7 you as primary would still be responsible to pay for the vehicles.

Agreed.

To put it in complete contrast... let's assume your husband actually wanted to get rid of the cars and didn't reaffirm. Imagine he tried calling Ford Motor Credit the day after he got discharge: "Hi there. Guess what? I never reaffirmed my car loans so I don't own the cars anymore. They belong to Ford Motor now, not me. I owe zilch. Come pick them up as I am moving to the moon."

I believe they would simply ignore this and say "There is a co-borrower who owes this money and that person did not get this debt discharged." In other words, that person (you) cannot get out of it.

[Doneygalpb]

Thank you for ya'lls imput but Ford Motor is being very aggressive with this. Our attorney forwarded the signed reaffirmation agree to the ford company rather than the att.. The Att sent a motion for release of stay within a week and then we received the papers--RED FLAG---We Immediatly called our attorney and they said they would take care of it since it was their mistake. So after we received new reaffirmation papers and signed we now have a hearing to attend. Doesn't sound like they care if I didn't file or not. Strange?

[JRScott]

Well since you are not filing and are primary, they could take the cars. Auction them off. Then you would still owe for the deficiency balance. I hope you get it sorted out.

[JimArk]

I am having this happen to my clients. The reaff just got lost in the shuffle when the economy collapsed recently. I am reopening the case to try to file the reaff and get the car returned, which the local judges will allow since the reaff was signed prior to the discharge. However, I am spitting mad at Ford and have embarked on a grassroots campaign to convince people to boycott Ford products due to their abusive practices. They may be able to get away with it due to the code changes of 2005, but I am going to make them pay. Heck, they are gonna lose 12-15k reselling this vehicle if they dont allow the reaff. I think shareholders need to know Ford is throwing away money just to be abusive to customers. The person at Ford who made this policy should be fired. Companies like this deserve to go out of business.

[outsidetool]

I know Ford Credit is, from my own experience, being pissy to work with. But I had a similar situation when I filed, wife did not. I did not sign a reaffirmation. We still have the car, and FMC seems happy. My atty told me that in the big scheme of things, FMC does NOT want any more cars returned. He did warn me though to make sure that the payments are made on or before the due date; another client of his in a similar situation had FMC take a car after discharge when the payment was 3 days late. But, my atty pointed out that could happen if I reaffirmed, also. FMC wants to try and get the reaff.
Good luck.