Mess with the car.

[cleanslate01]

Sigh. Just when I thought we were on top of everything, we're not. Here goes. We filed last winter. At the time, we were current on our car, which we reaffirmed. I went to make our car payment online at Capital One and the loan was zeroed out. Called Capital One and was referred by automated system to Assurance Capital. I googled them and read some nightmare stories. No one picked up the phone when I called and no one returned my messages. I called our lawyer and he said that during a bankruptcy everything "freezes". OK, I thought this meant that after the discharge, everything picks up again and we would receive statements. A few weeks later, I get a letter from Assurance stating they are handling my account but there is no mention of sending any payment so no red flags. Shortly after our discharge, the IRS sends a letter to set up a new payment plan on the back taxes we owed. I expected this, took care of it and waited for the car loan paperwork. Nothing. So I call Assurance Capital and jump through hoops of getting my husband to sign authorization for them to talk to me (I'm not on the loan), no one is really helpful so I just kept calling back until I got a very helpful woman who informed me that we were 8 months behind on payments! She said they weren't allowed to send us statements of any kind during the BK, hence the absence of communication. I was floored.

So now we are hopelessly behind on the car. We used the $ that usually goes to the car payment to get repairs and new tires on the car, and to pay medical bills that hit us months after filing BK (go figure). What do you suggest we do now? Assurance Capital keeps referring us to Cap One on this point and Cap One refers us to Assurance Capital. I was thinking that maybe I could get a car loan and have my husband "sell" me our car since I'm not on the current loan? At least we would avoid repo. The payments are well within our budget but the catch-up is going to KILL us since now I'm racing against a repo. We can't sell it since we are upside down in it. We NEED 2 cars as my husband works while I shuttle our kids all day. Our second car is owned outright but if we sell it, we would probably only get $3000-4000 for it, which isn't enough to catch us up on a loan AND purchase another reliable car outright. HELP!

[cleanslate01]

Called Cap One and they told me there is nothing they can do. Because my case is discharged but still open, they won't repo the car. But that can change any day. My fear is that I start sending in large amounts of cash and the car gets repo'ed anyway. They suggested that I refinance with another company. So, I called Roadloans as recommended in one of these threads. They told me that I needed trustee approval to apply because I wasn't discharged. I corrected her and told her I WAS discharged but the case wasn't closed. She didn't seem to understand the distinction in the two so I'm not sure if I need to get trustee's approval. I thought once you were discharged, you were free to start rebuilding credit. Thoughts?

I was thinking of just submitting the refinance paperwork and see what happens. My stomach turns at the thought of shelling out thousands of dollars to catch up on a car that might be gone tomorrow.

[brokejoker]

Are you upside down in the loan? If you owe more than it's worth and the debt has been discharged in your BK (no reaffirmation) then you could just let the car go and purchase another one. That's assuming you can get the loan (I'm thinking you could if you are refinancing your current car). Get a lower loan amount and purchase a good used car to have lower payments.

Heck, stockpile some of that extra cash and when they do finally repo the car just take the cash that you would have sent in to catch up the loan and use it as a down payment on another car.

[cleanslate01]

We reaffirmed the car in the bankruptcy. It is a 2005 Honda Element that we bought used but it had low miles and was reliable. The interest rate we had was decent and the payments were affordable so we kept it. We are currently upside down in the loan so selling it isn't an option.

We called Capital One today and after 2.5 hours of transferring, hangups and nonsense, we got to someone who could explain everything and help. She said that since our case is discharged but not closed, Capital One won't move in on a repo. Once the case is closed, our account moves to another department - which department depends on how behind we are at that point. In the meantime, she said to make payments as often as we could to catch up. They will not repo the car without contacting us first to work out a payment plan. She said they really don't want your car at the end of the day and if you are sending in $ every 2 weeks in an honest effort to catch up, they will work with you. So, we made a payment today and I budgeted a payment for every 2 weeks (according to hubby's paycheck schedule) until we are caught up. It will suck, but at least we can be caught up by mid October!

[felice]

good luck. and i really hope this works out for you. i filed a chap 13 and the car was included...most of my pmts to the chap 13 plan were going to cap one since that was a secured debt and the highest i owed...ok my chap 13 got dismissed due to missing pmts and whatnot..i had a very hard time making those pmts and was not eligible for a chap 7 at that time...cap one came after me so hard and so fast even though i was dropping lump sum pmts via western union. i tried to make arrangements and they wouldnt have it! i paid them like 1800.00 within a month and they still told me i had to pay thenm 3500 more or they were going to repo! and u knw what? they sent some one to come and get it! i was NOT having it. i downright refused to let that man take my car i would not let it go..nuhuh no way! so long story short i borrowed the $$ cap one wanted yes 3500 from a relative and took that to western union and stopped the repo. ok..fast fwd i became eligble to file a chap 7 and i did so just last month...i didnt not re-affirm my car with cap one becuz im upside down by nearly 3000 and the check engine light is on...anything could happen at this point so i didnt reaffirm just did a retain and pay on my statement of intention. the account is now with the infamous ascension capital and i am having a hell of a time getting a payoff statement that the trustee is wanting..go figure. i have 17months left on the loan...im trying to get thru at least the next 7 months and then i want to trade it in. from what i hear on these boards, since i didnt re-affirm i may even be able to just tell them come and get the damn thing at that time...especially if i'll have to roll over some negative equity into a new loan i WILL NOT EVER do that again...that is what i had to do with this cap one loan in the first place. I wish u luck and i sincerely hope everything works out for you..i just havent had much good luck with cap one.

[felice]

oh! and did i mention that capital one lists
my car as being charged off on my credit report?
yes even after i paid that $$ and got the account up to date...they have not been reporting anything to the credit bureaus! on all 3 it just shows as a charged off account and nothing has been reported for years!(the chap 13 was dismissed in 2007) i was floored i had no idea i would stress over making sure to get the pmts in and not go past 30 days and they havent been reporting anything! i worry that to a new car loan company they wont even be able to see where i've been making pmts on the loan! this is just one big ol CAPITAL ONE MESS. i tell ya...smh......