Leased car repossessed.. Will bankruptcy save it?

[Tcoyne05]

Hey,

I had a 5 year lease, with intentions to buy the car at the end. Unfortunately I lost my job about 2 years ago and fell behind on my payments. I always caught up on my payments, even though they weren't always on time. I fell behind again this past May til July, and went to pay it in full in August when I came into money.. and Chase (Bunch of crooks) said they discharged my lease and they just want the car back because I won't work with them. WTF? They've accepted late payments from me for over 2 years and all of a sudden it's a problem? All they've done is harass me, my family, coworkers knowing my circumstance and knew that they *always* got their money--even late.

Anyway, I moved out of state for a job and had the car for 4 months after they said to surrender it. I told them to work for it if they want it so bad. Well, they found me yesterday morning at about 5am and took it.

Mind you, My lease is over in April of 2011 and I only owe them $5600. It would've been even less than that if they didn't refuse my payment and refuse to work with me. Plus the fact now that I'm working, and offered to show them proof of employment .. they said that there was nothing they can do once it's been discharged.

Would filing Ch. 13 help me save the car? At least until the lease is over? Or is there something else I can do? I obviously can't pay everything upfront..

[despritfreya]

You need to understand that just because your creditor, in the past, has accepted late payments, does not mean it has to do so in the future. If you fail to pay pursuant to the terms of the lease signedby you, your creditor has every right to refuse additional payments, repossess its property and sue you for breach of the contract. You have no entitlement to anything other than the terms and conditions of the document you signed.

As to your question. . . the answer is "no" in the vast majority of jurisdictions. You would have to check if your State falls in the majority. Once the lessor regains possession of its property all "strings" the lessee may have had are severed and the lease is terminated. You cannot breath life back into a terminated lease by filing a Chapter 13.

Des.

[Tcoyne05]

Alrighty, well.. thank you for answering. Just annoys me how much money I've put into that car for it to just be gone. Especially since now I can afford it again! Ugh.

Now I have another noobie BK question..

If I filed for chapter 7 after they sell the car.. does the repo still come up on my credit? or is it whipped because of the bankruptcy?

Or is there something better I can do to avoid digging myself into a deeper hole because of this car? =(

[despritfreya]

If I filed for chapter 7 after they sell the car.. does the repo still come up on my credit? or is it whipped because of the bankruptcy? Or is there something better I can do to avoid digging myself into a deeper hole because of this car? =(

I am really not sure. I would think that there will be a reference to the repo but there will also be a reference that the debt is included in the bk. I am sure someone else will chime in on this. As to the 2nd part of the question, the damage is done. Do the bk and start to rebuild.

Des.

[Tcoyne05]

Probably a stupid question but.. Looking at my credit report that I pulled a couple of weeks ago. Chase said they charged off my lease in August. Wouldn't that mean it would have to show up as a charge off or closed on my credit report or something similar by now? Because the last thing reported was in June showing that I'm 90 days late and that it's Open.

Ugh!

[frogger]

Just annoys me how much money I've put into that car for it to just be gone.

A very good reason not to EVER lease another vehicle.