Need Advice...cars???

[BK Overwhelmed]

HI!

To recap:

1. filed June 6th (13K over median)
2. 341 July 8th (went fine...i was sooo stressed our after reading others bad experiences on here and after my paralegal made me feel gloom and done)
3. July 10th REPORT OF NO DISTRIBUTION NO ASSET
4. No word from UST now 13 days from 341

Today we asked paraegal to change our '06 ford F150 truck to "surrender". We have been planning on keeping our '06 Honda Odessy LEASE

MY PREFERENCE >>>really our payments are $1300 a month for both cars...so if we could cut that payment in half and get rid of both and buy 2 used ones that we be so smart with this one "fresh start"...we have been upside down for 9 years on cars.

I realized yesterday that I never called the lien holder for our Honda Odessy and say we DO want to keep it. Not sure if I should. We are current on the Honda but are now 30 days late on the truck and our credit union kicked us out last week (who we soley bank with) since we wouln't commit to keeping the truck that is financed through them.

MY FEAR>>>> Will I "mess up" our chapter 7 that seems to be looking good but trying to NOW surrender one or both cars? Can I even really get a good monthly payment on a used car now with the bad credit and BK? Would I be better off to just keep my 2 year old honda odessy that I KNOW runs well and fits my 6 person family...even though it is $600 a month?

This is all so confusing! Any thoughts appreciated!

[b_girl]

I would give up both and try to halve your total payments if I were you...retaining those high payments would definitely not feel like a fresh start to me, especially if you are upside on the truck, which it sounds like you might be.

As for getting good vehicles in and after bankruptcy, several members (including my husband and I) have had success with using the 722 option. We lowered our payment, though it extended our vehicle loan by 28 months, and we ended up with a great vehicle which we were able to purchase locally. Best thing is that we aren't terribly upside down because we got a great deal...our lender (we used 722Redemption/US Bank) gave them the price she would lend on the vehicle (Fair Market Value) and told them it was take it or leave it. The amount she quoted them was almost $3000 off their original asking price! But they took it. So I am very happy with our decision to ditch our upside down, payment heavy vehicle...it really does feel like a fresh start now.

But be sure to check with your attorney to make sure that this doesn't mess up your bills to income ratio. We were so upside down (-$500) that he told us we could easily give up both vehicles without replacing them and it would have no effect on our BK.