reaff hearing question

[Tabbygirl]

All is going smoothly, now, and since I wasn't scheduled for a continuance of my 341 or asked to provide anything I am hoping that all is smooth sailing.

I did get the reaffirmation agreement in the mail for the car financed with the credit union, which I have to do in Texas (no ride thrus) if I plan to keep the vehicle.

So far as the reaffirmation hearing, if I am pro se, do I need to attend? The CU terms are same as before, and this CU is *very* procedurally correct, so in that regard, I am not concerned. I guess I just need to know if it's *required* since I am pro se--I'm not questioning anything or needing to change anything. And if I don't have to take off work, that would be awesome.

Interestingly, the only creditor that DID show up was an electronics store here in TX that basically plays hard ball. I knew I had to reaffirm or they would truly pick up the stuff (the balance is only about $600 and the redemption value was about $620 since I almost had the account paid off)

Their attorney didn't want to wait another 1 1/2 hours for my case so she and I went out in the hall and negotiated the re-payment terms. Basically, this stuff was truly secured (and the TX bk court views them as such as well, so that's not like the Best Buy scenario) so I got her to reduce the interest to 0% (from 18%) and got that one resolved. We each got our signed and amended copies and she left.

So in that case, the pro se'ers being last worked in my advantage, as the attorney didn't want to sit around.

[Never_Again]

I know in my state, that if you file any re-affirmation, you need to go before the BK judge if you are not represented by counsel. I ran this by my lawyer as well, and he said that I was correct.

The reason is to make certain that you understand what you are signing.

I would say, based on that, that you will have to attend.

[lrprn]

So far as the reaffirmation hearing, if I am pro se, do I need to attend?

Yes, since you filed without a lawyer the 2005 bankruptcy law requires that you attend the reaffirmation hearing so that the judge can make sure you aren't signing an agreement that is unfavorable or unfair to you before you sign it. It's one of the few new things added into the 2005 law that actually does benefit debtors rather than creditors.

[AngelinaCat]

Hi Tabbygirl:

I'm a little hesitant to follow behind Ms. lrprn, but when we reaffirmed our car, our CU is located in Dayton, OH. We are in Florida.

The CU would NOT accept the paperwork provided by our attorney that we signed in her office and mailed off. We had to sign the CU's OWN paperwork, which they sent to us personally--not the attorney. We signed and had everything notarized. We sent these off in the mail ourselves, and the CU presented them to their judge in their district in Dayton. This was after we had talked to a very nice and helpful representative in the credit department of the CU.

All went well. The paperwork was approved. The loan was reaffirmed. And we didn't have to go to Dayton.

BTW, our accounts were frozen and checks bounced, but they reversed the NSF charges and made the checks good for the period of time this was going on. It was about 10 days, as I recall. Fortunatly we had a little emergency cash on hand.

[Tabbygirl]

Hi Tabbygirl:

I'm a little hesitant to follow behind Ms. lrprn, but when we reaffirmed our car, our CU is located in Dayton, OH. We are in Florida.

The CU would NOT accept the paperwork provided by our attorney that we signed in her office and mailed off. We had to sign the CU's OWN paperwork, which they sent to us personally--not the attorney. We signed and had everything notarized. We sent these off in the mail ourselves, and the CU presented them to their judge in their district in Dayton. This was after we had talked to a very nice and helpful representative in the credit department of the CU.

All went well. The paperwork was approved. The loan was reaffirmed. And we didn't have to go to Dayton.

BTW, our accounts were frozen and checks bounced, but they reversed the NSF charges and made the checks good for the period of time this was going on. It was about 10 days, as I recall. Fortunatly we had a little emergency cash on hand.

Wow. Our credit union has not frozen anything, although we no longer have any kind of direct deposit or payroll there; I pretty much just have the account there because of the car note. The checking isn't frozen and I can still transfer money back and forth, so I guess that's a good sign?!

I've already mailed the CU's forms back to them (they mailed them to me, I signed and returned) and I also thought I'd mention there were no fees, unlike what some others had mentioned. That's good--this actually is a pretty decent CU and if it weren't 50 miles away, I am sure we would still use it (had I not moved).

I guess I will just wait and see what pops up on PACER and what I receive in the mail. I will just plan on taking more time off to attend the hearing--thank heavens I have 7 days carried over from last school year, right?!