Discharged and calling for furniture

[lmg]

I was discharged on July 1 and just received a call from some company (looked it up and it's a delivery company) on behalf of a creditor that I financed furniture from. My question is can they really come for the furniture without any legal documents, should I just ignore these calls?

[AngelinaCat]

Was this debt listed in your BK? If so, then notify your BK attorney and have him/her notify this company that they are violating the law. It sound like your debt with whomever you bought your furniture from was sold to a third party collection agency, and they are trying to scare you big time.

If you filed pro se, then send copies of your paperwork with the discharge order highlighted, registered, return reciept, to this company and tell them *nicely* where they can go.

My best~~~

[AngelinaCatHub]

IMG, they can come. You can give them your stuff. But it would be your gift. No you are off the hook. Tell them they are violating the law. That is harassment. 'Hub

[AngelinaCatHub]

My goodness, my wife worked herself in here while I am answering this post. Now is this fair? Anyway, since I am a computer consultant, we have several computers on a network and I'm in my office, she is on the second unit and we are in therapy now. This forum is a "healing place". We both laughed when she pushed her mouse, I pushed mine and here we both are. 'Hub and Ms. Cat

[HHM]

Well, they do have the right to the furniture in so far as the lien survives the BK. But they would need some sort of warrant or writ to actually come confiscate the furniture. You are under no obligation to let them in your home.

[liz417]

This forum is a "healing place". We both laughed when she pushed her mouse, I pushed mine and here we both are. 'Hub and Ms. Cat

So true, I think I'm 'addicted' (in a good way) to this website! It really has been a healing place for me too! The people on this board are very nice and compasionate. I was on another 'board' when I first started this bk process and it seemed that there were no members and only a few 'mentors' and their advice was always the same, "talk to your attorney"...I'm lucky I find this site...


~Liz

[Stilltheone]

Well, they do have the right to the furniture in so far as the lien survives the BK. But they would need some sort of warrant or writ to actually come confiscate the furniture. You are under no obligation to let them in your home.

This is exactly what I've learned on this board.

We also had a loan through American General for furniture, which we stopped paying on and didn't reaffirm. If they DO come after us after our discharge, they are more than welcome to come get the furniture...once they take me to court, sue me and get a warrant to come into my home.

Make them do the work for the furniture...don't just hand it over.

[BKParalegal]

If the furniture was financed through a loan and that loan detailed the items, then it is a secured debt and therefore the creditor can demand the stuff back ( now if it had happened to be sold to a third party post bankruptcy, then they can't collect what you don't have....wink wink). The other way or legal way is to have your attorney file a motion to redeem the property(if your bk hasn't been closed) and then you have to pay the "fair market" value of the furniture to the creditor.

[Stilltheone]

If the furniture was financed through a loan and that loan detailed the items, then it is a secured debt and therefore the creditor can demand the stuff back ( now if it had happened to be sold to a third party post bankruptcy, then they can't collect what you don't have....wink wink). The other way or legal way is to have your attorney file a motion to redeem the property(if your bk hasn't been closed) and then you have to pay the "fair market" value of the furniture to the creditor.

That's the way our loan was written....with our furniture to secure it.

I'm very curious to see what American General will do once we're discharged. Again, they are more than welcome to have their furniture back....but they need to take me to court and get a warrant. Since the value is only $700 for it, I highly doubt they'll waste their time to sue me.

[Martha13]

We have furniture financed thru American General and are wondering the exact same thing! I think we paid around $2500 for it, and on the paperwork our atty listed its value as $500 (because that's what I put--I had no idea, really) and he put the $1500 as unsecured, and only the $500 as secured. I agree with you--they are more than happy to go thru the motions to get it back, but unlikely they will for that tiny amount. Let's keep each other posted on the outcome!

[Stilltheone]

We have furniture financed thru American General and are wondering the exact same thing! I think we paid around $2500 for it, and on the paperwork our atty listed its value as $500 (because that's what I put--I had no idea, really) and he put the $1500 as unsecured, and only the $500 as secured. I agree with you--they are more than happy to go thru the motions to get it back, but unlikely they will for that tiny amount. Let's keep each other posted on the outcome!

Our originally purchase amount was only $1000 and I put $700 as value...although it's now 7 months old and I hardly doubt I could even get $300 for it.

We actually got reaffirmation papers from American General. They wanted to reaffirm us at almost $1000!! $984, I think. What they did was remove the accrued finance charges and subtracted our few payments. Since I didn't agree with the amount, we didn't sign it. I emailed my lawyer, who never responded to me...so I was done with the matter.

Like I said, they can come and get it....but they need to take the necessary steps to do so. They will not be allowed in my home without a warrant. I'm assuming sueing me would cost more than what they could get for the furniture.

We'll see!