New here, reaffirm ?'s , income ?'s

[ChevyGuyNC]

Hello,

My wife and I are considering a joint BK7. We each have one car and would like to keep them both. I have searched and read a lot here but remain confused.

I have seen some people who were able to negotiate lower terms with their re-affirmations. How often does this happen, and what is the effect of the new payments on schedules? Who starts the negotiation process?

Will the fact that one of the car loans is in my name alone, and I am currently unemployed have an effect on the judge or creditor accepting the reaffirmation?

At what point can I start working again? I've been unemployed for eight months, and still don't have any good prospects, but what if something happens out of the blue? Is it okay after the 341, or would I have to turn anything down until after the discharge?

What will happen to her engagement/wedding rings? And mine? Should we just not list them and not wear them to the 341? Her ring cost $10k, ten years ago, and I paid cash. It's not on our ins. policy. I can't find any info on whether NC exempts wedding rings.

Thanks so much!

-Jeff

[StartingOver08]

I was able to successfully renegotiate one of my cars in the reaffirmation. It was with a credit union. The other one was with a bank and I was not able to renegotiate so I surrendered it in the BK.

The figures used in your petition are for a point in time, the filing date, using the 6 months prior to the filing date as information. You are allowed to reaffirm, surrender or redeem your vehicles (if applicable). If you select the reaffirmation box on the petition, it is up to you to contact the lender as they are not allowed to initiate contact with you. They can initiate contact with your attorney only. You call the BK dept of the lender and speak to your representative and negotiate directly with them. Some are better than others. Make sure what ever you agree to is in writing from the lender and signed by them before you sign it. If you have difficulty, you have 60 days after signing the reaffirmation to change your mind and withdraw it (surrender the vehicle).

Your attorney also has to sign off on your reaffirmation and it gets filed with the court by your attorney. If he does not file it, you do not have a reaffirmation. If you change your mind, a motion has to be filed to change your selection on the petition to surrender rather than reaffirm.

Many people on this board advocate NEVER signing a reaffirmation - just do a ride through. Apparently ride throughs are not allowed here in my area. So check with your attorney to see if this is common in your district. There are benefits to a ride through for you...