Asking judge not to approve car reaffirmation

[basketsbears]

Hi,

My husband and I are not on same page regarding vehicles. He is of "wait and see" mode to see if Ally (lender on both cars) will renegotiate on a reaffirmation agreement. I would like to get rid of at least one car payment as we are paying so much money monthly on just cars. I am certain we are upside down on both.

Anyway, my worry is if we keep paying and Ally repossess vehicles, my husband will be very,very upset with me. I do not want to sign because I don't want to defeat the whole reason we are in BK which to me is a fresh start.

My question is, I have read here where people have signed agreement, then asked judge to deny so they can "ride-through". Has anyone signed and the judge doesn't approve the request to deny? Are we then on the hook?

I know I am driving everyone crazy with this, but I am the only name on the truck which is about $33000 @ 7.4-575 month for 6 years, our jeep is $495 at 9.9% with 3 years left. We owe about $17,000 on jeep. the engine light just came on it yesterday. Has about 50,000 miles. So my theory is we would go thru a BK and if we reaffirm come out STILL $50,000 in debt. Our auto insurance is about $400 month, and with gas at $4 gal. I am just stressing out to the max...

I just want a safe beater for me - must be safe as my grandkids are with me a lot. My husband just keeps saying I will end up putting too much $ in a beater. Like I said, I am so stressed about this.

Thanks so much for letting me vent. My husband is sick of all my BK research, and used vehicle research.

[micahCT]

Sorry I don't have any answers but I wanted to let you know I feel your pain. My wife and I have 2 newer cars, both with payments close to $450 for another 4 or 5 years and I really want to ditch one of them, especially since we are so upside down on it (we rolled negative equity into the loan with our trade-in.) I have no problem driving a piece of junk as long as its safe but my wife would really prefer us to just keep both cars. We haven't quite worked out what we're going to do. I hate the stress and interpersonal tension that these decisions bring between spouses. Anyway, good luck with whatever you end up doing!

[SMinGA2]

Its possible to find something between 'beater' and 'new'. We bought a used HHR in May, with $2000 down and got it financed at $200/mo. (For 5 years, though we intend to pay higher & have it paid off in 3.) Still has 30,000 miles on the factory warranty.

I think you're right for being cautious and not wanting to be stuck with $50,000 owed and big car payments every month.

[basketsbears]

Sorry I don't have any answers but I wanted to let you know I feel your pain. My wife and I have 2 newer cars, both with payments close to $450 for another 4 or 5 years and I really want to ditch one of them, especially since we are so upside down on it (we rolled negative equity into the loan with our trade-in.) I have no problem driving a piece of junk as long as its safe but my wife would really prefer us to just keep both cars. We haven't quite worked out what we're going to do. I hate the stress and interpersonal tension that these decisions bring between spouses. Anyway, good luck with whatever you end up doing!

thank you so much for your kindness.

[basketsbears]

Its possible to find something between 'beater' and 'new'. We bought a used HHR in May, with $2000 down and got it financed at $200/mo. (For 5 years, though we intend to pay higher & have it paid off in 3.) Still has 30,000 miles on the factory warranty.

I think you're right for being cautious and not wanting to be stuck with $50,000 owed and big car payments every month.

Thank you. I have thought of that a well of getting a nicer, less expensive used car with low payments, etc. I just don't want to make a mistake on however this pans out.

[Pizza]

With the insurance (why so HIGH??), you're paying $1500 a month for two vehicles, plus gas & maintenance. Your insurance may even go up after filing. It would be crazy to go through bankruptcy and still come out with that on your hands. The court may not even approve it.

[malf1204]

I signed and asked the Judge to deny it and he did. He then issued a "Chimm: order:

IN THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
at Greenbelt
In Re: *

* Case No. 11-XXXXXXX
* Chapter 7
*
*
Debtor(s) *
ORDER DECLINING APPROVAL OF REAFFIRMATION AGREEMENT
This bankruptcy case under Chapter 7 came before the court for approval of the
Debtor's proposed Reaffirmation Agreement with Ally Financial, f/k/a GMAC. The
court held a hearing on June 30, 2011. As a result of the matters developed at the
hearing and from the Schedules, the court finds as a fact that the presumption of 11
U.S.C. § 524(m) that this debt is an undue hardship has not been rebutted to the
satisfaction of this court. However, as in the case of In re Chim, 381 B.R. 191 (BC MD
2008), the Debtor has performed his duty under 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(6) in that he timely
filed a Statement of Intention and timely entered into the Reaffirmation Agreement.
The Debtor is not required to surrender the U09 SMRTFORTTWO to the Creditor, and
as pointed out in In re Chim and In re Belanger, 962 F.2d 345, 348 (CA4 1992), the
default-on-filing clause in the installment loan contract is unenforceable as a matter of
law.
The court declines to approve the Reaffirmation Agreement. The provisions of
11 U.S.C. §§ 362(h), 521(a)(6) and 521(d) are inapplicable to this case. The vehicle
remains property of the estate, the automatic stay remains in place with respect to the
vehicle until such time as the stay terminates under 11 U.S.C. § 362(c) or (d), the
Debtor is not obligated to turn over possession of the vehicle to the Lender, and the
Lender may not exercise remedies as a result of default and any ipso facto clause
contained in the loan agreement.
IT IS SO ORDERED.

[kornellred]

Before you make any decisions on what to do about your vehicles, get that "check engine" light issue cleared up. If you have to keep the vehicle, you need it to be runni9ng 100 percent. And if you try to get rid of it, no one will take the bait with the check engine light on. First things first.

[keepsmiling]

This happens to us when the gas cap is not on properly. Hope that' s all it is!

[goon]

+1 on it sometimes being the gas cap. Many auto parts stores ( Autozone, Oriley/Checker, ...) will check the code for free and tell you what the error message is. and often as said it is something simple like not having the gas cap on tight enough (which causes the gas tank pressure to be off and trips the check engine light). With something like that the light wont go away if you fix the gas cap either at least not until it is cleared by the code reader.

[basketsbears]

Thanks everyone!

Check engine light went off all on its own.

[AngelinaCat]

I don't know that an Advance Auto, or other type store code reader can diagnose a problem when the light is off or not, but it is worth stopping by and asking.

[Tater]

We have two cars that were financed and one we decided not to reaffirm or redeem. The other one we decided to keep is financed through Chase. They never sent any paperwork to our attorney about a reaffirmation. I believe she sent something to them but she was surprised she never heard from them. I do worry at times if they will come get the vehicle once we are discharged. We continue to make our monthly payments. When do you have your 341?

[basketsbears]

We have two cars that were financed and one we decided not to reaffirm or redeem. The other one we decided to keep is financed through Chase. They never sent any paperwork to our attorney about a reaffirmation. I believe she sent something to them but she was surprised she never heard from them. I do worry at times if they will come get the vehicle once we are discharged. We continue to make our monthly payments. When do you have your 341?

Our 341 is Tuesday! Yay - finally!!!