Ford Motor Credit "The Great Ride Through" Question

[hippyguy]

So when I bought a Mazda, I thought I was paying them all this time. Turns out FMC owns MAC. So... FMC has listed a claim on our case for my super upside down car. I have been to the end of google and have determined that FMC is not very "ride through" friendly. I have never missed a car payment in my life on 11 different auto loans, probably never paid one late fee, too be honest. I'm not reaffiming, I will walk to work or take the bus, don't care. What I do care about is giving the "Corprate jet flying, overpayed CEO's" anymore of my money if this is how they play the game. So hear is my list of questions:

#1. I am 1/2 way to discharge, hopefully, and planned to reafirm in my schedules
#2. I have to stroke a check tomarrow, but if they are going to snag the car anyway after discharge, I would rather buy a ten speed with this months car payment budget.
#3. Can FMC report any missed payments that will come back to haunt me after the smoke clears ( I have a thing with car loans reporting well )
#4. Should I keep paying until disharge as to not throw up any red flags.

I know every district and case is different, Just want some advice from a couple different angles.

[StartingOver08]

There are a couple of steps to reaffirmation - the big step is signing the agreement and getting it filed with the court before discharge.

You said you are not going to reaffirm this vehicle (I'm not reaffiming, I will walk to work or take the bus, don't care.) So, don't pay them. You are still in your automatic stay. They can not report any payment history after your file date. Better to save that money for your new ten speed!

You can change your statement of intentions just before your discharge to surrender. It will not affect your credit report any worse than having the BK anyway - it reads the same. The only place it shows differently is on the petition itself.

[hippyguy]

There are a couple of steps to reaffirmation - the big step is signing the agreement and getting it filed with the court before discharge.

You said you are not going to reaffirm this vehicle (I'm not reaffiming, I will walk to work or take the bus, don't care.) So, don't pay them. You are still in your automatic stay. They can not report any payment history after your file date. Better to save that money for your new ten speed!

You can change your statement of intentions just before your discharge to surrender. It will not affect your credit report any worse than having the BK anyway - it reads the same. The only place it shows differently is on the petition itself.

What about the red flag factor any thoughts? I would love to save some scratch, but I don't want the discharge to get screwy on me.

[StartingOver08]

The creditor can not contact you during your automatic stay.

The debt is in their BK dept. They have sent you the reaffirmation agreement, just take your time. Very close to the end of your automatic stay, change your statement of intentions.

I don't think it will raise a red flag - and they can not snag the car during the auto stay. Don't pay them. It buys you NOTHING.

[hippyguy]

The creditor can not contact you during your automatic stay.

The debt is in their BK dept. They have sent you the reaffirmation agreement, just take your time. Very close to the end of your automatic stay, change your statement of intentions.

I don't think it will raise a red flag - and they can not snag the car during the auto stay. Don't pay them. It buys you NOTHING.

Sweet...haven't seen a reaffirmation agreement yet, probably sitting under a pile of paper work on my attorneys desk right under the message: Hippyguy called March 2 at 10 AM Important!! please call back ASAP.

Maybe my voicemail is screwed up?

[UhhhOhhh]

So when I bought a Mazda, I thought I was paying them all this time. Turns out FMC owns MAC. So... FMC has listed a claim on our case for my super upside down car. I have been to the end of google and have determined that FMC is not very "ride through" friendly. I have never missed a car payment in my life on 11 different auto loans, probably never paid one late fee, too be honest. I'm not reaffiming, I will walk to work or take the bus, don't care. What I do care about is giving the "Corprate jet flying, overpayed CEO's" anymore of my money if this is how they play the game. So hear is my list of questions:

#1. I am 1/2 way to discharge, hopefully, and planned to reafirm in my schedules
#2. I have to stroke a check tomarrow, but if they are going to snag the car anyway after discharge, I would rather buy a ten speed with this months car payment budget.
#3. Can FMC report any missed payments that will come back to haunt me after the smoke clears ( I have a thing with car loans reporting well )
#4. Should I keep paying until disharge as to not throw up any red flags.

I know every district and case is different, Just want some advice from a couple different angles.

Hello
I dont know if my experience with FMC will help or not... but Ill tell you what happened for me:
I had a Ford Focus Wagon which I had faithfully paid on and had only 5 payments left when I filed Chap 7 last Feb (08). Even after I filed I sent payment into Ford to the payment address from the previous months statement, as I was planning on reaffirming my car.

After my 341 Ford filed something with my attorney saying that I was SIX MONTHS in arrears on my car payments and they were going to repossess the car and in order to reaffirm it I would have to come up with the (arrears) balance owed before they would allow it to be reaffirmed. My attorney let me know this. I told him that I had NEVER missed a payment. He said possibly the payment crossed in the mail with the paperwork, and I said 'for 6 months?'. He had me fax him in the cancelled checks on all the payments and then he contacted FMC. They still insisted then that I was 2 months in arrears. (even with the proof of payment) so I decided to give the car up and buy something else. So thats what I did.

My attorney advised them of this in March and it took them til almost the end of the summer to actually pick the car up (by which time I had run the gas out of it.. I had the kids sit in the car with the ac on til it conked out due to lack of fuel and I also left the locked gas cap on it. which was all just me being a **** for them lying about me, as the 3 things I was never late or missed payments on ever was rent/heating/car payment). Anyway - they sold it at auction and sent me the itemized statement and Im glad I didnt reaffirm after their lies!!

My attorney later said that when you make the payment to FMC regular address, they dont inform the BK side of FMC that payment was made, so there might be problems unless you find out the exact address to send the payments to. Also, if youre going to give the car up, then you dont have to make the payments cause they arent going to count anyway as far as being reports, since youre filing the BK. Thats what my attorney said.

Hope that helps you at least a bit.

[hippyguy]

Hello
I dont know if my experience with FMC will help or not... but Ill tell you what happened for me:
I had a Ford Focus Wagon which I had faithfully paid on and had only 5 payments left when I filed Chap 7 last Feb (08). Even after I filed I sent payment into Ford to the payment address from the previous months statement, as I was planning on reaffirming my car.

After my 341 Ford filed something with my attorney saying that I was SIX MONTHS in arrears on my car payments and they were going to repossess the car and in order to reaffirm it I would have to come up with the (arrears) balance owed before they would allow it to be reaffirmed. My attorney let me know this. I told him that I had NEVER missed a payment. He said possibly the payment crossed in the mail with the paperwork, and I said 'for 6 months?'. He had me fax him in the cancelled checks on all the payments and then he contacted FMC. They still insisted then that I was 2 months in arrears. (even with the proof of payment) so I decided to give the car up and buy something else. So thats what I did.

My attorney advised them of this in March and it took them til almost the end of the summer to actually pick the car up (by which time I had run the gas out of it.. I had the kids sit in the car with the ac on til it conked out due to lack of fuel and I also left the locked gas cap on it. which was all just me being a **** for them lying about me, as the 3 things I was never late or missed payments on ever was rent/heating/car payment). Anyway - they sold it at auction and sent me the itemized statement and Im glad I didnt reaffirm after their lies!!

My attorney later said that when you make the payment to FMC regular address, they dont inform the BK side of FMC that payment was made, so there might be problems unless you find out the exact address to send the payments to. Also, if youre going to give the car up, then you dont have to make the payments cause they arent going to count anyway as far as being reports, since youre filing the BK. Thats what my attorney said.

Hope that helps you at least a bit.

Yup, I'm not getting that warm fuzzy feeling from FMC on any of this mess. I guess they would rather take the loss so it looks better on their bailout paperwork. I'm not a big gambler, and I pay them alot of money I could sure use right now.

[justbroke]

I have talked to several prominent BK lawyers in my District (during our breaks waiting on the Judge to enter the courtroom after a "short" recess). They all agree that FMC is absolutely the worse, and if you don't reaffirm, they are going to get the car. They suggested that folks dealing with FMC to either pay up, or let the car go. They mentioned another one too, could have been Mazda, but Ford was certainly the one they (the lawyers) just didn't like dealing with.

Of course, your mileage may vary (pun intended). However, history dictates that FMC is not the company to play around with.

[Bell30656]

One of my neighbors filed a Chapter 7 that was discharged over a year ago. Still sitting between her home and mine is her Ford Explorer that she chose to surrender in the Chapter 7. It has been over a year and to date Ford has not seen fit to send a truck on over to pick it up.