Signing a Reaffirmation Agreement Without Attorney

[BKBF]

My attorney is asking that I pay him an additional $900 to handle the reaffirmation agreement for my car for my Chapter 7 bankruptcy. That's not an option, so I must handle it myself. After reading the paperwork (I am most definitely a novice when it comes to completely understanding everything) I do have a few questions I am hopeful someone can help me with.

1) The reaffirmation agreement is from November and it is now January. My Attorney advised that I continue to make payments on my car since I was keeping the car, and I have made two additional payments since the agreement was written up. The paperwork does not show these payments. Does the reaffirmation agreement need to be updated?

2) The current market value of the car on the reaffirmation agreement does not match what is in the petition (about 4k higher). Does the reaffirmation agreement have to match the petition? If yes, will the attorney that is representing the finance company do this?

3) Is there anything else I should be looking at that can cause my Chapter 7 to not granted?

Thanks so much.

[LadyInTheRed]

1) I don't really know, especially without seeing the actual language of the documents. Does it say something about payments through a certain date? Don't sign an agreement that states inaccurate facts.

2) I wouldn't want to sign a reaffirmation agreement that states the value of the car is higher than what I listed in the petition. You can't know if they are willing to revise the value unless you ask.

3) The contents of the reaffirmation agreement will not determine whether your get a Chap 7 discharge. If the value stated for the vehicle is too high, it could make your trustee take a look at your exemptions and try to come after any non-exempt equity in the vehicle (assuming the trustee reads the reaffirmation agreement). But, that won't keep you from getting discharged. Make sure you understand the terms of the reaffirmation.

[justbroke]

1) The reaffirmation agreement is from November and it is now January. My Attorney advised that I continue to make payments on my car since I was keeping the car, and I have made two additional payments since the agreement was written up. The paperwork does not show these payments. Does the reaffirmation agreement need to be updated?

A reaffirmation agreement can only be "properly" executed before entry of the discharge order. Has your case been discharged? Your attorney is suggesting a ride-through which is to just continue paying the bill.

2) The current market value of the car on the reaffirmation agreement does not match what is in the petition (about 4k higher). Does the reaffirmation agreement have to match the petition? If yes, will the attorney that is representing the finance company do this?

Which one is higher, the reaffirmation agreement or the petition? If the reaffirmation agreement is higher, then I would not sign it, although that wouldn't mean much. Typically, lenders will put the "current" fair market value (FMV) of the vehicle on the reaffirmation agreement if your loan balance is higher than the FMV. In this particular case, you would actually receive a benefit from signing. (I signed a reaffirmation agreement for one of my vehicles and I redeemed the other. On the reaffirmed vehicle, the lender reduced the balance to the FMV and I saved almost $3K and reduce the interest rate, I believe, by signing the reaffirmation agreement. I then later, about 6 months later, refinanced the reaffirmed vehicle! Win win for me!)

3) Is there anything else I should be looking at that can cause my Chapter 7 to not granted?

Not be granted? It's either discharged or it is not discharged. Do you know what the last date is to file a complaint to determine dischargeability? That would be "technically" your discharge date -- your actual discharge is when the order granting discharge is issued.