Surrender Car after Chapter 7 Discharge

[BKBF]

Hello. Here is my background.

• My discharge date from my Chapter 7 was in 2/2014, so its been about 7 months since discharge.
• I was asked to sign a reaffirmation agreement for my car loan, but I did not sign it. After speaking with the loan company I felt comfortable enough that if I continued to make on time payments I wouldn't have any issues. That has proven to be correct as I have never been late and have had no problems with the loan company.

Here is my issue and question:
I have a payment due tomorrow, 8/6/14 that I will not be able to make because I just don't have enough money to make it (job loss at a very bad time, although I'm not sure if there ever is a good time). I was told prior to my discharge that the loan company wanted me to sign a reaffirmation agreement to protect themselves. Since I did not sign the agreement, can I give back the car at any time? I want to call them and surrender the vehicle but I need to know if there can be any additional ramifications in doing so that haven't already been addressed in my discharge (ie they can sue me, additional dings on my credit, I will own them money for the repo, anything that I haven't thought of that can hurt me either financially or creditwise).

Thank you for your help. I'm looking at this from strictly a law standpoint, not a moral one. The moral part I have to deal with, but I definitely didn't make the right decision keeping the car the first time. I screwed up. Hopefully this is the end my mess.

[LadyInTheRed]

It is true that a reaffirmation agreement is for the creditor's protection, not the debtor's. If you didn't reaffirm the loan, you can surrender the car without owing anything to the creditor. The creditor should not report a default or repo on your credit report.

Why call the creditor to surrender? Drive the car until they repo it. Just don't leave your personal property in it and be prepared to find it gone at any time.

There is nothing wrong with the decision you made to keep the car. You didn't reaffirm and continued to make payments while you could afford to. Sounds to me like you made the right decision.

[bcohen]

Even if you quit paying now, you will probably get to drive the car for another month or two before they send the repo man to collect it. That's a month or two where you can drive the car to prospective employers, fill out job applications, etc. Just don't leave anything valuable in the car, and always carry enough cash to pay for a taxi or bus ride home.

[justbroke]

I have nothing to add to the great advice provided here. While the vehicle is still your property, just use it! There's absolutely nothing wrong or illegal!

On another note, I am glad that you didn't reaffirm and this is the "model" case where the benefit shows itself clearly.

[RB2]

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