Car Question-Can they refuse to reaffirm?

[sisterfunkhaus]

My husband and I bought a car in January and filed BK in April. We are current in payments but have quite a bit of equity in the car. Plus, we got a great deal and payed about $2000 less than it was worth. My attorney says that the equity will be no problem in bk court. But, we only owe $9000 on the car and it is worth about $14,000. Can the car company refuse to reaffirm, sell the car and take our $$$? We are making the payments when they are due. We have never been late on any car payment in our entire lives--ever. I guess I'm worried that they will see this as a situation they can take advantage of.

[momof5]

Thats almost backwards of my situation.
We owe 9000 on a car worth 7000. We are worried that they may not reaffirm (credit union) because our income is so much less than it was.
I am not sure why any bank would want a used car back when payments are up to date.
I wouldnt think the bank is going to want your car(from what I have read on this site) but your equity is what got my attention. Not sure what state your in but my state only allows $2400 in equity in a vehicle.

[JRScott]

It depends on the laws of your state unfortunately. In theory the company has the right to refuse to reaffirm, however some states they cannot take the vehicle if you are making payment son time.

momof5 it is in their favor to let you keep the car and reaffirm since you owe more than they can get. However it might be hard to get a judge or lawyer to sign onto the reaffirmation if they consider it to great a burden on your household finances.

[PaKettle]

What does your attorney say?
Ask him if your state is one in which they cannot repossess a car that you are making timely payments on. If it is, then don't reaffirm, just keep making payments.
If it is not, then ask your attorney if he thinks you can reaffirm.
You can try, at least.
I agree that although they might make a little money by repossessing your car, is it really worth it to them? The hassle of having to re-title it, re- sell it, etc... when they already have a paying customer? I think it would be penny wise and pound foolish of them.

[Dollar Bill]

I'm a dealer....If you'd like to give me the details on your car via IM or through this post...I'll be happy to help get you an eval immediately. Value is based on the maret report through the dealer auction website.

[sisterfunkhaus]

I am financed through WaMu and my attny said that there is no reason not to expect reaffirmation. I live in Texas.

The thing is, I just don't trust creditors anymore after all we have been through. I mean we were doing fine until 2 years ago and all of our minimum payments suddenly doubled. We couldn't afford it all and even after 11 years of perfect pays and credit, no on would work with us. Then, they charged us all of crazy these fees for not paying and our debt went up by thousands and thousands of dollars. I just feel so betrayed and disgusted. Now that I know what these guys are made of, I don't trust any of them. It makes me sick how they operate. I know that ****we***** did the charging and are responsible for our debt. But THEY changed the game, not us. Granted, we had a CRAZY amount of debt. But we managed. I am glad to be getting rid of it all and starting fresh. I am glad I ***know*** what these companies are about and what they care about. But of course I would rather not be going through this. Pardon the rant. I am just sick of it all.

[Yattering]

I work in auto collections. Even if they don't reaffirm, or for some reason the reaff paper work didn't get filed in time, many will allow you to retain and pay. In fact most companies are probably hoping like mad you want to stay in that car, because they don't want the take the loss. It costs them money to repo the car, money to pay the auction house that sells it, add that to the possible deficency balance that could be left on the loan itself, and it isn't a pretty picture for the finance company sometimes. - It's never for certain, but usually if the payments are being made, they let it ride until the payments stop.

Don't you guys take a gut instinct dislike to me because I admit to being a collector

. . . I've got one foot on each side of the line right now.

Chp7 filed 5/14/08