selling a car right before or after discharge/ cancelling reaff

[blaze]

This may be a dumb questions - but we reaffirmed a car that we now do not need to keep - and our 60 days is up on Monday so we could get our discharge any time after- We would like to just cancel the reaff but our case has gone so smoothly so far that we are afraid cancelling would throw up a red flag - so we are thinking we'll just keep and sell it - We will NOT make any money -in fact we may have to pay some toward the loan b/c the car is worth less than we owe. I guess my questions are
1- if we cancelled the reaff and surrendered the car WOULD it have an effect on our case? Attny says no, but I wonder since we included the payment in our expense schedule- he didn't seem certain.
2- if we wait and sell it and apy off the loan is that going to have any effect on us getting our discharge? I have no way of knowing what the timeline will be since I don't know how long the discharge will take - but the 60 days is up Monday and everyting seems to be OK
3- if we keep the reaff. and then post discharge we sell and pay off the loan will that help us build credit?
Hope this makes sense.

[lrprn]

1- if we cancelled the reaff and surrendered the car WOULD it have an effect on our case? Attny says no, but I wonder since we included the payment in our expense schedule- he didn't seem certain.

Reaffirmations are voluntary for you and for the lender. If you want to remove the reaffirmation (and it certainly makes financial sense to do so if you really do not need the car and you are upside down on it), then you can retract your reaffirmation agreement any time before discharge. Don't wait - since your 60 day limit is rapidly approaching, if you are going to do it, do it now.

As far as throwing up a red flag, it won't. Follow your lawyer's advice. Just don't delay longer than necessary because once your discharge comes, you're stuck with the reaffirmation and losing your hard-earned money right out of your pocket to pay off whatever the difference is between the sale price and what you owe.

2- if we wait and sell it and apy off the loan is that going to have any effect on us getting our discharge? I have no way of knowing what the timeline will be since I don't know how long the discharge will take - but the 60 days is up Monday and everyting seems to be OK.

During an active bankruptcy before it is discharge, your trustee has to give permission to sell an asset. Best to wait to sell after discharge and closing.

3- if we keep the reaff. and then post discharge we sell and pay off the loan will that help us build credit?

It could *IF* your lender chooses to report to the credit agencies. There's no guarantee that will happen. Don't base this decision on something so questionable.

[blaze]

thank you so much for the answers. if we cancel the agreement I am wondering how long it would be before we have to surrender the car. right now we are just 15 days past our due date on this months payment. I'd like to pay that and be able to keep the car for a couple of more weeks. aNYONE have an answer for this?

[erinmi]

Depends on who the car is with

Ford filed a motion to lift stay after 21 days because we had not yet signed a reaff even though that was our intention. We did end up signing it because we wanted to keep the car for sure: ie, they wouldn't remove the motion to lift the stay if we didn't sign a reaff.

However, it was filed right before our 60 days was up and it did postpone our discharge by a month as they finished processing the paperwork stating that we didn't need a hearing to keep the car.

My guess is that it might slow things down a little bit but if you don't want the car, you need to rescind the agreement ASAP, while you still can

If you pay the payment, you'll probably get to keep the car for a little longer and then you can call to ask how to surrender it around the time your next monthly payment is due.