What exactly is a reaffirmation agreement?

[brown153]

I still am not completely clear on what exactly constitutes a reaffirmation agreement. Is a reaffirmation agreement a signed document between a debtor and a creditor, or is it just part of the bankruptcy petition?

Here's my situation....under the 'Chapter 7 Statement of Intention - Joint Debts' section of the BK petition, we checked 'debt will be reaffirmed pursuant to 11 U.S.C. ss 542(c)' for our auto loan. But we did not contact the creditor prior to discharge, the creditor did not contact us, we did not sign any agreement between us and the creditor. The debt is being reported as IIB on all of our credit reports, except for my wife's Equifax report, where there is no mention of the BK, which I believe is an error. In fact, I seem to recall having a conversation with the creditor post-discharge, where I had to request to continue receiving statements, and the creditor mentioned that we were not receiving statements since we did not sign a reaffirmation agreement. At the time, I wanted to sign an agreement, but the creditor said it was too late.

So, we were discharged in July 2007, and have been continuing to pay for the vehicle, but we would like to surrender it. Would we bear any liability?

[BassBoy]

If there is no re-affirmation agreement on record, then no, you wouldn't be liable. If you hired an attorney, be sure to contact him/her first thing tomorrow morning to be sure no reaffirmation was signed and filed with the court.

[BK2008]

A reaffirmation agreement is an agreement between debtor and lendor that states you are re-agreeing to the terms of the original note and will continue to make the payments as stated. In the event of a default, the lender can repo the car and report it to the credit bureaus as such. An reaffirmation must be approved by your attorney or a judge, and must fit into your budget without being a strain to maintain payments.


If you didn't sign a reaffirmation agreement, then you are free to turn the car back in without reprocussions, since that debt was discharged in your BK. And if you choose to keep the car, it is possible the lender is doing a 'ridethrough'-you pay for it, keep the payments current, and you get to keep the car.

[brown153]

Thanks Bass. I just spent an hour searching the forums, which I should have done before posting, since the question is answered multiple times I will contact our attorney first thing in the morning, but I am positive that we did not sign anything with the creditor. I'm just freaking out a bit because I'll be contacting the creditor tomorrow.

[BK2008]

Thanks Bass. I just spent an hour searching the forums, which I should have done before posting, since the question is answered multiple times I will contact our attorney first thing in the morning, but I am positive that we did not sign anything with the creditor. I'm just freaking out a bit because I'll be contacting the creditor tomorrow.

Don't worry..it's easy.

I turned in a vehicle, just called them up, told them I left it at my friendly Honda dealer, the keys were with the sales manager, here's his name, number. And they took it from there.

[TEW]

I don’t think you can sign a reaffirmation agreement after 60 day of discharge.

"Would we bear any liability?" No is the debt is discharged

[BK2008]

Only if you reopen your Bk case, you might be able to slide it in. But in his case, he doesn't want to reaffirm.