Can't reaffirm a delinquent vehicle loan?

[Keebler]

I've read on the forum that an account can only be reaffirmed if it is current and I'm hoping someone can chime in with some more details.

I have two vehicles. One will be surrendered and is listed that way on the petition. The other is with a credit union where I owe $10k or so between the vehicle loan, a credit card and a line of credit. This second vehicle is listed on the petition as one we intend to reaffirm.

I know about cross-collaterilazation and know the second vehicle may be a losing battle to reaffirm. It's also an SUV thats approaching ten years old and 130,000+ miles. However, I'm well equipped to maintain it and it's worth maybe $5,000 in it present condition. Although it isn't much to be proud of, it has a new engine from less than a year ago and it fits our families needs extrordinarily well. If I can reaffirm the loan it'll be good transportation with a payment just above $200 for 18 more months on a balance that's less than $4,500. This would be a good fit for us financially and it would also be convenient. For these reasons, buying and financing something else doesn't seem like a good idea right now.

I had a payment due last week that I skipped and paid the Bankruptcy filing fee instead. I went ahead and filed for Chapter 7 at the beginning of this week.

I don't want to send even one more payment if there's a chance I'll lose the vehicle in the end. However, it's not clear how reaffirmation works with me being delinquent right now.

Is it an official rule about reaffirming a delinqent account, or is it just something that creditors are unwilling to consider in most cases?

Is there any way for me to correct the delinquency at the point where it looks like a reaffirmation agreement can be reached? Again, I don't want to waste even one more Dollar if I can't reaffirm this vehicle in a favorable way. Can I have my cake and eat it too?

[AngelinaCatHub]

Keebler:

They don’t want your junk vehicle (no insult intended), they want your money. Go to them and explain your situation, and perhaps, and only perhaps, they can put that payment towards the end. NOW understand, when you do reaffirm, you will have to pay every payment on time, or big stuff happens. Can you do this?

I must say again, they don’t want your car, they will cooperate with you. Keep us posted as we all are interested in your welfare. ‘Hub

[Keebler]

Keebler:

They don’t want your junk vehicle (no insult intended), they want your money. Go to them and explain your situation, and perhaps, and only perhaps, they can put that payment towards the end. NOW understand, when you do reaffirm, you will have to pay every payment on time, or big stuff happens. Can you do this?

I must say again, they don’t want your car, they will cooperate with you. Keep us posted as we all are interested in your welfare. ‘Hub

I know the vehicle is junk and it suits our needs perfectly as compared to going out an buying different junk from someone else with a history we know nothing about. Paying for it will not be trivial but it'll be no worse than the alternative if I lose the vehicle.

I'm hoping they see the situation for what it is and let me keep the junk and make payments. I don't want to pay premium prices to save the junk and I don't want to reaffirm the whole amount I owe them to save the junk either. The nearest branch of the Credit Union is over 1,000 miles away and I have to believe that they'll consider the cost of repossessing a $5,000 vehicle from long-distance.

I also don't want to seem too eager to rescue the junk and have them think I'm desperate or stupid. For this reason it seemed like a good idea to sit on my money until there's a sign they're interested in working something out.

For now I'm not even sure they have a clue I've filed. My accounts are still active and I even called customer service with a question regarding my last payment in July and nothing unusual was said -- she barely even noticed my current payment is past due.

In any case, I'm trying to decide if the delinquent account will prohibit any sort of reafirmation or maybe just make it less likely they'll be willing to consider it. With the benefit of hindsight it'll all be very clear and I'll be sure to share whatever happens with everyone here.

[keepmine]

Your lawyer will have to sign off on a reaffirmation and attest that it will cause you no undue hardship. Ifd you filed pro se, a special hearing before a bk judge will take place and the judge will make that determination. That's a hard argument to make if you are in default. That's why you need to be current and show you can stay current.
Given the age of the car, the cross collateralization issue, you may be better off letting it go. Even if you don't reaffirm and keep paying, they don't have to send you the title until that cc that is part of the crosscollateralization is paid.

[justplaintired]

I thought that being current was necessary to file a 7 if you intended to keep the car/home. Ofcourse I may be wrong. Our attorney said we needed to be current to file a 7 and keep our house/car. Did you by chance fall behind after you filed? We you current the day you filed? If you have an attorney then you need to see what he has to say. Also why reaffirm, why not just ride thru on the car? I doubt seriously they would care as long as you keep your payments current. The only thing I see that would concern me is you're behind and I think your attorney really needs to advise you what you need to do to keep the car. The good thing about not reaffirming is if that car dies, you are not stuck with the payments you can walk away.

[Cali]

My attorney told me that for anything we wanted to keep, we had to be current on.

[lillaimof2kids]

My attorney explained it to me as this...
Staying current is your proof to the bank you can afford it. If you can't afford it they won't want to reaffirm.