Ch 7 - lease vehicles in MA - what to do?

[Kimmiee78]

Hello
We just filed our Ch 7 yesterday and I had a question regarding our vehicles.
If I assume my leased vehicle.. which has a year and a half left on the lease... Would I still be
able to 'trade it in' say, 6 months from now for a less expensive car. Many times I turn in leases early in order to get something different. If I assume this lease in BK, am I committed no matter what to paying this vehicle until the end of the lease or is there still the option to shop for something cheaper. I do not want this to show as a repo on my credit report if I turn it back in. The buyout on my lease is 26k , current trade in value is 22-23k... because of the ch 7, would i be off the hook for the $$ difference between buyout price and actual value?
THANKS!
Kim

[ccmisery]

You have to get it planned into your bankruptcy, typically with leases you can continue paying, but from what I know you won't get statements anymore and you have to make sure you are not late, even a day late. Again I do not know if this is the case, just from my research, I will be in a similar situation soon, one leased and one just financed both with Ford Credit, Ford requires reaffirmation otherwise they will repo. I am not sure how it applies to leases, I read it's not the case but have not confirmed it.

IF you put the car in the bankruptcy and forfeit it, yes you will be off the hook, how it effects getting another car after discharge is another story and on trade in there is the upside down which will raise your rates on top of getting a hire APR due to your bankruptcy.


This is some good info on reaffirmation:

http://murrieta-bankruptcy.com/bankruptcy/reaffirmation-agreements/