Making pmts on car loan not in my name in Chap 7?

[tyson24]

I have a car loan in someone elses name (by the time I needed a new car, my credit was shot from bad tenants) that I pay monthly. It has been insured by me since the day it was bought.

Can anyone see a problem a trustee may have with this?

Here I go, OCD again

[biotechsolution]

There might be issues because in theory you are not responsible for the loan, so the secured debt is not yours. How much is the car payment?

[tyson24]

$558. This is what I hate. My attorney tells me it is no big deal (maybe based on the trustee, who knows) but I feel like something is up with the info he is giving me about certain things. I feel like those certain things are taking me from a Chapter 7 no asset case into a Chapter 13 indelibly and I think he knows it. Either that or I am just paranoid.

[olivies]

I am in this situation. My mom had a vehicle, couldn't afford the payments. We needed a vehicle. So she makes the payments to the bank, we send her money equal to the payment each month. We pay all operating costs for the vehicle (insurance and maintenance). Now, initially the attorney filed it as NOT being our secured debt. The UST corrected it and said it IS our secured debt, so we had our vehicle expense line reduced by the amount of the car payment. Legally, it's not our debt. We can stop paying and the only damned thing it'll do is cause tension between my mother and us. We have no liability with the bank. In fact, the car payment is $305 a month. She consistently pays $320 a month, but we only ever send her $305. So she'll be done paying the car off before we're done paying her.

[tyson24]

Thank you on that. Hopefully the US Trustee does not get involved in my case. There are so many proofs of ownership here in my case with this car, that they would have to be blind not to see them. I will be making sure I bring proof of insurance on the car since 2008 with me to my 341. And about 501 other things in case they want to see them. I will be prepared to prove that we incurred this debt, but not in our name. Hopefully it works. Thanks for your reply

[olivies]

Good luck! Personally, we're trying to prove it the OTHER way. LOL The insurance is in my mom's name, as is the registration, title, etc. She didn't buy the car "for us", it just happened that she didn't need the car or payments, and we needed a car. (It was bought for my sister, who renegged on her end of the deal of paying for it, which left my mom with a car she didn't need and payments she didn't want for it!). So I don't want to claim ownership of the car, but I do have operating expenses for it.

[tyson24]

They bought this car for us but we have made every payment directly so i have proof. I don't know if that is going to be a flag?? So many weird things about my case. My atty did say that it will not be a problem. Here is to hoping that it isn't Good luck on yours!

[Dougie011]

I think as long as there is a good paper trail you should be fine. The paper trail should be able to show that you have been making payments consistently (I think?).

[tyson24]

I sure am hoping so.

[MeLLE159]

You do realize that In the event that you have and accident in the vehicle you don't have an insurable interest in it because your not the owner. Your insuring something that doesn't belong to you! Just and FYI

[tyson24]

I am not sure but I think by having insurance, I am insured on whatever car I drive. But you do make a valid point. I will check into this after my BK is over. I don't want to rock the boat

[Dougie011]

If your filing, won't this also be included in your bankruptcy? Would there be a problem to reaffirm a payment that isn't in your name? I know you can show that you've been having a paper trail. I don't know how you would reaffirm something that isn't in your name, I just don't know how it would work. Just something to think about.

[Detroit]

In my particular situation, I included my fiance's car payment, insurance and maintenance (as well as mine) in my Ch 7 paperwork as expenses (I am paying for all). My lawyer said she discussed it with her partners and they're 98% confident it'll go through with no problems. With those odds, that's a risk I'm willing to take. She said if we were married, it would cause no problems at all.

It's just listed as a monthly expense; I can't (and don't have to) reaffirm, since the loan isn't in my name (and the bank won't receive any notification of my BK). I did have to provide my attorney with the loan statements and show corresponding payments from my account, as well as the insurance statements showing both cars (she just wants to be armed with all info in case the trustee asks, although she doesn't think he will).

If it comes up during the proceedings, she feels she can justify the payment because he's unemployed and has returned to college full-time - if he doesn't have a car, he can't get back and forth to school, which is how, in the long run, he'll be able to get a better job (fingers crossed) and again contribute to the household.

If not, without that expense, I'll have to convert to a Ch 13, since I'll supposedly then have disposable income. This was also part of her counsel. My 341 is in two weeks; we'll see how it plays out.