Reaffirming w/Toyota & getting worried!

[BKDebby]

I've read on this forum that Toyota will only accept a reaffirmation, and that is fine with me, I just got a new car in June and I love it and want to keep it.

My 341 was on November 10 and my attorney has contacted Toyota 2 or 3 times and still no reaffirmation papers! I am current, have never been late, getting ready to make my 5th car payment on Friday - always paid ahead of time so I don't understand what their problem is, but I'm getting worried since the countdown has started since my 341 meeting last week.

What happens if they refuse to send them? Maybe they are balking due to me having the 0% APR? Can they be forced to provide them? Surely they don't want the car back now.

[debee]

Reaffirmation is voluntary, bkdeb. They don't have to do it.

I can't remember the time frame, but I think you have 60 days post-341 to file it.

There have been cases where the agreements came together after the deadline and the debtor was able to get it sorted out in court because all the signatures were on the doc before the deadline.

edit: Your lawyer should also be able to request a delay in order to get more time to work out the agreement.

[BKDebby]

But if Toyota's options are redeem, reaffirm or retain, why wouldn't they want to reaffirm me? I did have to sign a paper at the Toyota dealer when I got my financing, that I wasn't allowed to file BK within 10 days. I waited way longer than 10 days, I waited 3 months before I filed.

The trustee did say I had 44 more days from the date of my 341, to make sure I reaffirmed. My petition stated I was reaffirming.

Hopefully, Toyota is just slow with getting the paperwork out.

[debee]

But if Toyota's options are redeem, reaffirm or retain, why wouldn't they want to reaffirm me?

Reaffirm and redeem are your options when you indicate that you want to retain property on the "Statement of Intentions". And they're not so much options as statements of what you would like to do with your secured property. Toyota has the options available to them under the terms of your contract and state law. They probably have a clause written in there that indicates if you file bankruptcy at any time, you are in default on the loan.

But, I bet they will come back with the agreement. If they don't like the 0%, they can always just change that. They wouldn't need to refuse you altogether.

If they are exceptionally slow and don't get back to you before the clock strikes, you can also ask your attorney if he can file a motion to delay entry of discharge.

Mostly, I think if Toyota is known for letting people keep their cars as long as they reaffirm, they will work with you too.

Hang in there.

[BKDebby]

Thanks, Debee....It's hard to hang in there sometimes!

[wonderingrov]

At the time I filed, I was under the impressions that Ford (like Toyota) was a stickler about ALWAYS requiring reaffirmations if you wanted to keep the car. They were slow getting the paperwork to me. Finally, about 3 days before my 341 meeting, I gave them a call to find out what was going on - I thought I would have to reaffirm in order to keep the car. It turns out that they don't actually require reaffirmations IF your account balance is less than $5,000. Since mine was about $4,900 at the time of filing, I was able to do a retain/pay.

I say this just to say that it might not necessarily be bad news if they haven't sent you the paperwork yet.

[BKDebby]

Having just purchased my new car in June (with the blessing of my attorney as part of my pre-bk planning) I still have a balance of $13K, so I doubt they will let me retain/pay.