Giving up car in Chapter 13

[1aliasfan]

I am sorry if this has been posted before, but I could not find anything.

I have a great 2007 Mustang GT California Special that I am trying to sell to give us more cash flow. My attorney said since I really want to sell, he may, after he reviews paperwork, recommend giving it back to Ford Motor Credit and then let them come after me for the difference and put in unsecured claims.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

[ShouldWeFile]

I have given back 3 vehicles to the lenders within the last couple of weeks (voluntary surrender). I hope to be filing chapter 7 to discharge all unsecured debt - as long as the lender that holds our first mortgage gets things worked out for us (loan modification). If not, we will have to file a chapter 13, which would allow us to pay back the many thousands of dollars we are in arrears on the mortgage over the course of the chapter 13.

If we can successfully move forward with a ch7, then the deficiency balances will be discharged with no liability to us. If we must do a 13, then we will have to pay a portion of the deficiency balances (the same portion as with out other unsecured debts).

So the long and short of it is that, yes in a chapter 13, you can give the vehicle back to the lender and only be responsible for a portion of the deficiency as with all of your unsecured debts. It's very common to owe significantly more than a vehicle is worth during the first half of the loan period, unless you put a very significant amount of money down.