Reafirmation hearing

[Sara1]

HI
I have one question.We filled in april chapter 7 and in septembar we have car reafirmation hearing.What do you think if judge don't approve reafirmation can we still keep car?We are current on the payments and loan is with CU. We live in Portland OR.Does anybody has expirience with this?
Thank you!

[tcreegan]

reaffirmation

Hi Sara,

Approval from the BK judge is going to depend on several factors; affordable payment, low interest rate, amount of equity. Large payment, no equity, loan is more than vehicle is worth, expect a denial.

If you have been current through the BK, and stay current afterward, it is likely the lender will let you "retain and pay" You keep the vehicle as long as you make the payments on time. Most lenders, inc CUs, are OK with this.

Most of the recent case law is in your favor. Courts have held that filing BK is not an automatic breach of contract. And as long as you are not in breach of contract the lender cannot repossess.

You will probably be OK w/ or w/o judge approval. If you want reassurance, call the CU and talk to them.

Tom in Colo

[BobMango]

So I am assuming that you are a Pro Se filer since you are having a hearing. Generally the judge will simply want to see income that will be sufficient to handle the payment. Since it's a CU the hardship component on the standard form won't apply, but the judge will want to make sure you're not going to have an issue later.

[IBroke]

In my case, I'm also planing on reaffirming our car-loan ALTHOUGH I don't have any income. Reason for that is that it is a joint loan with my mother and she is making all the payments. Remaining balance is $2,800 and monthly payment is $300. Balance equals value.

I will need some kind of transportation in the near future and want to re-build my credit with this reaffirmed car-loan. We've never been late on the car.

I'm hoping the trustee has no issue with that.

[Sara1]

Than You for answers.No, we are not pro se fillers but our attorney didn't sign reafirmation papers and we must go to hearing.We will see what will happen.

[tcreegan]

no reaffirm by lawyer

Hi Sara,

Not unusual for a lawyer to not sign off on a reaffirmation. Good ones won't b/c it exposes them to some liability.

Hello Ibroke, you won't go to the trustee for a reaffirmation hearing, you get to see the judge !! Maybe....sometimes they do it all on paper.

And....if you are counting on a reaff. to rebuild credit, most companies do not report on the reaff. ....unless you request it (usually in writing) Since you are going to pull your credit reports to see if the reaff is reporting, might as well look over all the accts in the BK, make sure they are noted IIB (included in BK) and they have a zero balance. Some may stay on the report as charged off, closed, etc. Get rid of those.

Good luck to you both, and remember that getting denied for the reaff. is usually no big deal. You just stay current on the payments and keep the car.

Tom in Colo

[IBroke]

Hello Ibroke, you won't go to the trustee for a reaffirmation hearing, you get to see the judge !! Maybe....sometimes they do it all on paper.

And....if you are counting on a reaff. to rebuild credit, most companies do not report on the reaff. ....unless you request it (usually in writing) Since you are going to pull your credit reports to see if the reaff is reporting, might as well look over all the accts in the BK, make sure they are noted IIB (included in BK) and they have a zero balance. Some may stay on the report as charged off, closed, etc. Get rid of those.

Thanks, Tom.

Oh yes, cleaning up the credit report is on my to-do list right after discharge. I have many errors already and they will be disputed shortly after the BK discharge. I'll request a "general verification" of the accounts and I'm sure they will confirm their errors. After that, I'll tell them to either take the account off the report or they will be sued. As far as I know, if they confirm errors, they must remove the tradeline if requested rather than correcting the error.

Ah, so reaffirmation is "judge-work" - good to know. I'll ask my attorney to include future credit-reporting on the account as some kind of pre-condition in the reaffirmation agreement - as well as the removal of the IIB-notation as soon as the loan is paid in full. Fortunately, the car is financed with a small and local "buy here, pay here"-dealer so they are quite flexible. I want them to deliver for the interest-rate of 22% we've been paying for more than 2 years now.

Since it is a co-signed loan, I can imagine they would agree with my reporting-request because that would allow them to report the loan in my and my mother's file in the same way. Otherwise, they would have to stop my reporting and note it as "IIB" and continue the reporting in my mother's name without "IIB". What a hassle..

[bigtim6656]

I was wondering that myself, I figured I would ask mine to do the same. The report is what I want and why I traded my truck in for the Jeep, the 4x4, toy factor, and less mpg had nothing to do with it

Thanks, Tom.

Oh yes, cleaning up the credit report is on my to-do list right after discharge. I have many errors already and they will be disputed shortly after the BK discharge. I'll request a "general verification" of the accounts and I'm sure they will confirm their errors. After that, I'll tell them to either take the account off the report or they will be sued. As far as I know, if they confirm errors, they must remove the tradeline if requested rather than correcting the error.

Ah, so reaffirmation is "judge-work" - good to know. I'll ask my attorney to include future credit-reporting on the account as some kind of pre-condition in the reaffirmation agreement - as well as the removal of the IIB-notation as soon as the loan is paid in full. Fortunately, the car is financed with a small and local "buy here, pay here"-dealer so they are quite flexible. I want them to deliver for the interest-rate of 22% we've been paying for more than 2 years now.

Since it is a co-signed loan, I can imagine they would agree with my reporting-request because that would allow them to report the loan in my and my mother's file in the same way. Otherwise, they would have to stop my reporting and note it as "IIB" and continue the reporting in my mother's name without "IIB". What a hassle..