Help - atty wants us to reaffirm Best Buy purchases

[kawh]

These weren't luxury items, and it's been a year since you bought the refrigerator and 8 months since the laptop.

Phooey. I'd NOT reaffirm anything and would NOT communicate with them to offer to surrender anything!
Let them issue their threats and make moves to come after these things. And they have not threatened anything, right? This is all coming from your atty asst, and over just these necessities, at least so far as the frig, bought months and months ago.

I would have thought this was an unsecured debt, unless you signed something directly with BB. Don't they go thru a 3rd party credit issuer, I don't know about BB. But I bought some appliances a few years back from Lowes, and they did it thru GE retail.

[Miknan]

I owed BB about $1700 for an iPad (first gen), blu ray player, and desktop computer. All this stuff is several years old now. My lawyer also told me if I wanted to keep it I should make them an offer. I read all the stuff on here and chose to ignore them. They got me on the phone once and I told them to send somebody to come get it. That was many months ago. I do think we got another letter recently but I threw it in the trash. I guess they could show up but at this point this stuff is getting old anyway.

[Pjmax]

I Bk'd BB as unsecured. No one said anything and I had no idea.

After reading this post early this AM, I was curious and googled a bit. Everything I found had a response or comment from an attorney. All said they typically ignore the BB attorneys.

[syd74]

I did a lot more research online too. I guess there is a clause in there that links the goods to the debt. Even our actual attorney says this. I really need the laptop as I work from home as a freelance writer/editor and it is my means of work. I'm not interested in trying to replace it. Everyone may be right about Bass not taking stuff, but I can't risk it. I told the assistant to offer $800 for both. I would want no interest payments, preferably at around $50/month. If they don't accept that or something slightly over, I may then say "come and get it." The fridge was a scratch and dent floor model, but it is stainless and nice. Macs do hold their value. I would not be able to purchase a used one like mine for anything less than $700 for sure, probably more. I wish I was able to take the risk, but I can't lose my computer.

So far the BK process has not been too bad. Other than two embarrassing creditor calls (one to my parents and the other to my brother-in-law on his work line, of all things - when neither creditor had even left me a message), this is the worst issue. We pass the means test based on income, and we haven't used our credit cards in 6 months. So hopefully everything will go smoothly. I made up my mind from the beginning that I would not allow myself to stress about anything. Before this process, I had never even been late on a payment in my life. But reading people's thoughts on this forum has made me ok with BK, especially under our circumstances.

[Floridagail]

Do you really think they want your used stuff, No just a bluff to get some money. What would they do with it.

[btbeme]

Simply acknowledging Bass and Asses or Best Buy will waste more of your time. Ignore them. After discharge they might persist, but until they show up with a Writ of Replevin, you have nothing to worry about.

[bcohen]

I very seriously doubt that they will come and repossess a used computer, and I can say with absolute certainty that they will not repossess a used refrigerator. It would cost much more than the fridge could sell for to come get it, clean it, store it, and sell it. The same could probably be said for the computer, as they would be under legal obligation to protect the customer's personal data, which means they would have to securely wipe the hard drive, or replace the hard drive, and then re-install the OS and application software. They would also have to repair any cosmetic wear/damage, run diagnostic testing, and pay for storage and auctioning of the computer. The likelihood of this happening is slim-to-none.

Still, if it makes you feel better to settle, that's your prerogative. Personally, I would take the gamble, because I know that laptops are cheap (well, PC models anyways) and they depreciate rapidly. You can buy a decent new laptop for less than $400, and you can find a good PC laptop on Craigslist for about $100.

[syd74]

So, an update -- I am furious right now because I told our attorney's assistant that we would offer $800 for both the fridge and the Macbook Pro. The fridge was a scratch and dent model, and we still owe what we paid for it ($1000) because we were paying off a TV before this. It's now 2 years old. The Macbook Pro is a 2011 model that I bought last April.

So we got a reaffirmation agreement in the mail today that we are supposed to sign for the full amount owed ($1924) at 0% interest, $50/month. The stuff is definitely not worth that much.

I called the office and talked to the assistant who sent us the agreement (different one than the one I met with and spoke to 3 times regarding the issue). She said that there was no note about $800 in the file (after the other assistant assured me she had noted it in there).

So this assistant says if I don't reaffirm, I will have to redeem it or sign a paper that says I have to surrender it. Do I have to sign a surrender agreement, legally?

At this point I want to take my chances that they will come and get the stuff and not pay them anything, but I don't want to have to sign a surrender agreement if I don't have to.

Thanks for any help!

[df04527]

What does your attorney recommend? not the assistant. I wouldn't sign anything.

[LadyInTheRed]

I think you need to stop talking to the assistant and talk to the attorney. It is your attorney's job to present your offer to the creditor and you should make sure that has been done. Or maybe not since you no longer want to reaffirm which is a good decision IMO.

I have never heard of anyone having to sign a surrender agreement when they decide not to reaffirm a debt. As the assistant told you at your signing appointment, you do have to indicate on your statement of intentions whether you intend to surrender, reaffirm or retain. I assume you checked "reaffirm" because it was your intent to reafirm if you could reach an acceptable agreement with the creditor. You didn't reach an agreement and you no longer intend to reaffirm, but that doesn't change what your intent was when you filed your petition. If you don't reaffirm, the debt will be discharged and the creditor can go through whatever hoops are required to repossess the collateral if that's what they want to do. A surrender agreement would just make it easier for the creditor. So, ask the attorney, not the assistant, if you are legally required to sign a surrender agreeement. If he says yes, ask him to cite the law that requires it.

ETA: Just reread your post where you said

I told the assistant to offer $800 for both. I would want no interest payments, preferably at around $50/month.

I bet the first assistant did make that offer and the creditor countered with your payment terms, but at a higher amount.

[keepsmiling]

Listen to all the wise people here who have BTDT.
Your assistant guy is useless.

[syd74]

Thanks for the replies -- both assistants told me that they would/did not handle the actual reaffirmation negotiation. I'm not sure who did. I will take your advice, LITR, and ask our attorney himself about legally having to sign such an agreement. I would just like to leave it as is and not make any changes.

If they did offer my $800 and then agreed to a counter of the full amount owed ($1924), then they are the worst negotiators I've ever known. I'm not sure what happened there.

We are also negotiating with another creditor for a grand piano that we have been paying on. The creditor would certainly repossess it if we didn't, because it's worth several thousand. The attorney himself is supposed to negotiate that deal. I sure hope he does, after this situation. It's the reason we went with him over the other (cheaper) attorney.

[LadyInTheRed]

If they did offer my $800 and then agreed to a counter of the full amount owed ($1924), then they are the worst negotiators I've ever known. I'm not sure what happened there.

Your attorney should not agree to anything without your authorization. All he should agree to is to take the offer to you and he is required to convey all offers to you. This could be the best offer Best Buy would make. There is no reaffirmation agreement until you sign it. Even if your attorney recommends you sign the reaffirmation agreement, nobody can force you to. If you want to know the details of the negotiation, you have every right to know. Ask your attorney exactly how he negotiation has proceeded.

[bcohen]

If I were you, I would quit negotiating with these people, and sign NOTHING. Contrary to what they might tell you, you are not legally obligated to deliver the items to Best Buy, and you are not legally obligated to let these people collect the items from your house until/unless they obtain a writ of replevin from a court in your jurisdiction. The likelihood of that happening is so slim, that I would do nothing and ignore any further communications from these people (other than a court order, of course).

[barnhartred]

After my discharge in October of 2011 I was contacted by a repo company by mail and phone about an atv I purchased with a Honda credit card backed by GE money. They tried to get me to surrender the atv to them. I spoke with the attorney that handled my BK he told me to give them his contact info and for them to have the proof of a secured interest in the atv. I did as instructed and needless to say they never contacted him and I haven't heard from them since.