Pink slip for car

[Semigh]

We made our 60th payment on our Chap 13 plan this month. Two years ago our car was completely paid off in the plan, but we never received the pink slip. Does anyone know what we need to do to obtain it?

[justbroke]

You need to receive your discharge. Once this is done, give it four (4) weeks to allow time for the creditor to send the vehicle title (a/k/a pink slip). The likely reason, as to why you haven't received the title, is that the vehicle was crammed down during the bankruptcy. That means that some or all of the vehicle value may have been discharged by the bankruptcy. The lender has to wait for the discharge to make sure all the debt is discharge (the part that your plan didn't pay due to the cramdown).

After 30 days (4 weeks) from the discharge has elapsed, reach out to the creditor. You may need to look at the claim and/or any claim assignments to see if it was assigned to a different creditor. All of mine were assigned to a company known as Ascension Capital, despite having two different original lenders. Ascension sent one of the titles within 30 days, but didn't on the other. I had to contact Ascension on the second vehicle because that vehicle was not only crammed down but disallowed. This took a little finesse to get the title as they first claimed to have lost the title then it magically appeared. I received my two titles within 60 days of discharge and that was even before the case closed!

[Carmella]

How does this effect my situation. Our car will be paid off with about 16 months left in our plan. The car is a junker. It's sitting in the yard and will not even have a license plate soon since it can't pass the emissions test and never will. I would like to get rid of it.

I know that the bank we have the loan with won't talk to me unless they get the attorney's ok. I had called because I know there were some late fees before we filed. They won't tell me the amount or even the exact end date. I put that on the back burner. I would like to find out the late fees so I can voluntarily pay them--like a pay off balance.

Does that mean I won't be able to sell or junk the car since I won't have a title even if it's paid off?

[justbroke]

How does this effect my situation. Our car will be paid off with about 16 months left in our plan. The car is a junker. It's sitting in the yard and will not even have a license plate soon since it can't pass the emissions test and never will. I would like to get rid of it.

If it was a junker when you filed, then it was likely crammed down. That means that you will (likely) not receive the title until about 30 days after the discharge is entered.

I know that the bank we have the loan with won't talk to me unless they get the attorney's ok. I had called because I know there were some late fees before we filed. They won't tell me the amount or even the exact end date. I put that on the back burner.

Any late fees would be subject to discharge at worse, or some portion would be paid back (unless you're in a 100% plan).

Does that mean I won't be able to sell or junk the car since I won't have a title even if it's paid off?

Yes. You usually can't sell a vehicle without the title. Even to make matters worse, you should not sell any titled property (homes, vehicles, etc) without Trustee and Court permission while in an active Chapter 13 bankruptcy (or even an active Chapter 7 bankruptcy).

I would like to find out the late fees so I can voluntarily pay them--like a pay off balance.

You could, but fees and interest have accumulated since you filed. They probably even added a late fee to for each month. This is tracked in their internal system in case your bankruptcy is dismissed. I would speak with my attorney about maintaining insurance or if there is any way to get rid of the vehicle.

[sophieanne]

Carmella - did you say the car loan is or is about to be paid off? I know you’re in a 100% plan. I was in a 100% plan too..The title was released to me immediately after it was paid off. In my case it was four months after my five year plan started. If the Loan is paid off or close to it… You could reach out to the loan holder and see if they’ll talk to you (or get your attorney to call and give the ok to talk to you). My Finance co told me they would release the title (and did) however if I didn’t complete the plan, they would bill me for interest etc. I hope you can work out some thing.

[Carmella]

Thanks. We had been late on a few payments prior to filing BK. At that time it was $20 late fee. It might have been 3-5 times with a late fee and I believe I was late once since we have been in BK because I accidentally forgot that when I pay via my bank it can take 2-3 days and I miscalculated when to pay it. I was kicking myself after that. I have been paying within the grace period. We have NEVER skipped/missed any payments before BK or during BK.

sophieanne I don't have the exact pay off date. We had coupons from the bank, but they were not for the full term of the loan. I am going by what the BK paperwork had planned for our payments. When the car loan is paid off then that $227 goes into the BK payment for the remaining months (which I would have to look up). I called the bank a few months ago to find out and they need to get the OK from the attorney and offered to call the attorney themselves, but I declined the offer and said I would just wait.

When not in BK I know there was a pay off amount at the end of the loan which was not the same amount as monthly payment. When our house (first mortgage) was paid off the bank gave me the pay off amount, but nothing in writing, no deed--I never questioned it since we have the 2nd mortgage so it's not really "paid off."

We are paying the car outside the plan--we pay it, not the trustee.

justbroke I believe there is insurance available at a lower rate for cars that are not driven, but I don't know how that applies when there is still a loan on the car. I would definitely like to have the least amount of insurance legally required! I know there is a process to buy a car, that I have put off since I don't know if it's in our best financial interest to have another car payment (since we have no relief from the payment--it goes into the BK so it's not like we will have that $227 in our pocket). And our income is down since I don't have steady work on my second job and now my husband is not getting overtime. During the pandemic he got over time and it helped since I had no work on job #2. I have been called into job #2, but not weekly as I was before the pandemic, there's still not enough work so I will be used sparingly. And on top of that this "health care hero" got a small pay cut in January from my full time job, but still it's $106 less per month!

I don't know the whole process. I know when I bought my 2017 car (before BK) I still had a car loan on the car that mysterious died all of a sudden and they added that into our new car loan. We only did that because we really had no choice and needed a car. I don't know if we buy a car now in BK if they would want to pay off that loan and give us maybe $200 for the junker.

I haven't gone into to talk to anyone about buying another car. I would love to stay with the dealership we have been at for almost 20 yrs.

Ironically the last two weeks my husband and I are both getting advertisements from a dealership which is about 60 miles away that finances during Open BK. I was tempted to go there, but I really rather not buy a car from someplace that is further away.