Automatic Debits for Auto Loan - allowed after including loan in BK?

[cometkitty]

We have an auto loan through a credit union. Our Chapter 7 has already been discharged and our auto loan appears on our credit report as Included in Bankruptcy. But the credit union has continued to auto debit our account for the monthly payments - in fact they never skipped a month. Is an auto debit considered a collection attempt? Seems that once they were notified of the BK that they would have had to stop that.

We are going to continue to pay for the car but they held a deposit I made on Friday and then charged me a $30 overdraft fee this morning when they auto debited the car payment so I am annoyed at them and want to have my facts straight before calling to get the $30 reversed

[justbroke]

You can talk to them about changing your auto-debit status. From what I know of this type of arrangement, you are afforded a discount on your interest rate. Should you change to non-autodebit, you may pay a higher rate.

Also, I don't know what your complaint would be? You wanted to keep the car and continue paying, while enjoying the special discounted rate, but you don't like that they took out the payment? Many people continue to pay secured debt throughout a Chapter 7 in order to avoid issues post-discharge. I'm not saying that the Credit Union (CU) is without some blame. Technically, they should have stopped the auto-draft, but I have found that my CU had done the same thing!

Good luck with speaking with them. Let us know how the conversation goes.

[cometkitty]

I don't have any issues with the the auto debit - I was more annoyed that they put a hold on a paycheck I deposited for some reason which caused us to be off by $10 when they took out the car payment. So I was going to ask for a reversal of the overdraft fee of $30 based on the fact that they held a check and that they technically should not be auto debiting a loan that was included in a BK.

I don't think we got a special finance rate for the auto debit but it has been a few years so I should look into our original paperwork and check on that before I have them switch us to regular bills.

[justbroke]

Most banks will grant a one-time (once a year) waiver of an overdraft fee. You could call and simply ask to have it waived! Sometimes, honey works better than vinegar.

[Pjmax]

What are your CU's deposit time requirements? Deposit by 3pm, 5pm, 8pm, etc., for same day availability? What is the policy for weekend deposits? Since you haven't objected to the auto debit before now, I don't think this has anything to do with the overdraft. If you made your deposit within the CU's time frame, I would use that to request to have the charge reversed. You have been aware of the auto debit, this didn't come as a surprise, and is a separrate issue, IMO.

[Ridbidge]

I had mine on autodraft (BB&T) and the payment that was due 2 weeks after I filed the petition wasn't taken. Its due date was a Saturday, so I figured maybe they didn't take it because it was a weekend, but when it still hadn't happened Tuesday of the next week (due the 2nd Tuesday was the 4th) I sent them a secure message asking about it and they responded that they did not show my account as being set up for autodraft (it has been on autodraft for the past 11 payments). They did not ever give me any communication stating they stopped the autodraft. I made a payment online through BB&T as soon as I received their response, and continue to do so each month. The account has been listed as closed on my CR with a status of BK7 Petition.