Reaffirming Loans

[overyonder]

I finally finished up all the paperwork to file chapter 7 pro se and went to the cout house this morning. When the Clerk looked through my schedules to make sure I had everything she came to the statement of intention page and asked me if I had served the papers on the 2 creditors listed. I told her I had called them and both said they needed a case number before they could do anything and then they would send me something once they got the notification from the court. My question is do I have to do anything else? Are their official forms I need to send these 2 creditors? One is my mortgage company Citi and the other is a credit union where I have my car loan. I appreciate any help with this as I definately want to keep my home and my car.

[BobMango]

If they were included in your mailing matrix the court will send the notice of bankruptcy to them. I called my credit union on a vehicle that I reaffirmed and they were willing to talk with me before getting the notice. I was 60 days behind and they agreed to skip a payment and drop the payment by $235 a month if I reaffirmed. Kept the rate the same at 5.75% and just extended the loan by 9 months. No reaffirmation--then they come get it once it's even a day late. So they were pretty flexible on terms of the reaffirmation, but weren't willing to do anything to help without that.

Of course, since you are filing pro se, you will need to have a reaffirmation hearing. If your schedules I and J don't show enough income to cover the payments you'll have a hard time getting a judge to approve it. It can be done, but it's tough.

[justbroke]

My question is do I have to do anything else? Are their official forms I need to send these 2 creditors? One is my mortgage company Citi and the other is a credit union where I have my car loan. I appreciate any help with this as I definately want to keep my home and my car.

The Statement of Intentions is special. You do need to serve that on the creditors for which you have a disposition of property pledged as collateral. You'll probably get a deficiency notice.

So, you need to take a couple of copies of your Statement of Intentions and then to put the Case Number and information on that form... and "serve" it on those creditors. This means a Certificate of Service needs to be completed and filed with the the Court.

[overyonder]

So do I just make a copy of B8(Form 8) "Chapter 7 Individual Debtor's Statement of Intention" and mail it to the 2 companies? What constitutes the Certificate of Service that I need to send back to the court? Is that a form or will the receipts from mailing the documents suffice? I sincerely appreciate the help with this!!

[justbroke]

A certificate of service is a "paper" that indicates to whom you delivered a court paper (or document) and by what method. It includes the served parties mailing address, on which you served it, as well as the date you made service.

Your (local) Bankruptcy Court's website probably has a stock certificate of service template.

Do you have a guidebook for filing? There are certificate of service examples in the NoLo Press book.

"A copy of the Statement of Intention must be served on the Chapter 7 Trustee and creditors that are listed in the statement on or before the date the statement is filed with the court." Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 1007(b)(2).

[overyonder]

Thanks, I think I got it now

[justbroke]

Thanks, I think I got it now

Do you have the NoLo book, some other book, or are you just winging it?

[overyonder]

Up till now I just been winging it. The petitions were in my opinion simple enough and they told you what schedule fed which section ets... so I made it through the petition fairly easily. The clerk at the court house even commented that I had stuff that went into effect 12/1 filled out and she had to go see what the forms were because she didnt recognize them. It looks like I should probably invest in a book