If I don't sign the re-affirmation on a car, will they repo it after discharge?

[debtmonster]

If you read my posts in the past, you know I have two cars. One I owe about $36,000 on and the other $12,900. I want to keep the car that I owe $12,900. I read some place on here that it wasa good idea to never sign a re-affirmation paper.

If I don't do that, do you think they will come take the car after discharge or will they wait 90 days from lack of payment? I was planning to keep paying because I find it too much of a hassle to buy a replacement car. It will take too long to save thousands down and not have any car to drive in the process. It's easier just to keep swinging the $300/mo. payments for now even though the car is upside down.

The other question... if I were to keep the car after discharge and not sign a re-affirmation agreement... and let's say I keep the car 8 or 9 months and give it back as a repo, can they not come after me since I went BK on the vehicle and had bankruptcy protection on it via discharge?

[laurannm]

In most states you are protected by state laws regarding repossession regardless of whether or not you reaffirmed. So as long as you remain current, you can keep the car and they cannot repo. On top of this, even if you are not protected by state laws, most lenders will allow you to keep the vehicle absent of a reaffirm as long as you remain current. Seems like Ford and Chrysler, along with most credit unions, are the only lenders who are forcing the issue.

You are correct...down the road you can allow them to repo and you are completely free and clear of any deficiency.

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

I am not sure what the law is here (FL). Our attorney advised is NOT to reaffirm.

So - we did NOT reaffirm our 2 vehicles. We had decided to go ahead and reaffirm them at the 341 (CU showed up and wanted us to), but then, they never got the agreement to us as they said they would.

So we have just remained current on payments and they have not come to get them nor called us about it. So far so good.

But we do wonder... However, I would think after several months of accepting payments after discharge, they implicitly agree to do that and could not repo them anyway.

I would rather pay our low payments ($250, $314) at low interest (5-6%)
and hopefully just keep the cars - but knowing that, if our financial situation were to take another nose dive, we could give them (or one of them) back if we had to, without owing a deficiency.

Not a lawyer - just my 2 cents!

[debtmonster]

Exactly... that's where I am now... $309/mo. at 5.9%. The car is $7,000 upside down, though.

My issue being is that, sure, I could replace it with a used car, but to do that after a bankruptcy, I would imagine that it would be hard to find a place that would not at least want $3,000 to $4,000 down. That would simply take too long to save that up. And on top of that, pay 20% or high to boot. And then I'm stuck with a used car that I have no idea about the history or if it was wrecked, how it was taken care of, etc. Not everything shows up in a Carfax. I had a car that had $7,000 worth of damage. I fixed it all myself and none of it showed up on the Carfax, but the frame was bent and there was lots of other things that were a real pain to fix. Now if somebody Carfaxes this car in the future, they will never know how bad the accident was.

Many people abuse or neglect their cars and you would never find out about that until after a little while of driving it. My car, for the most part, drives just as good now at 65,000 miles as it did when I drove it off the lot with 2 miles on the odometer.

[jandrl2001]

does anyone know if Honda will allow ride throughs or are they sticklers on the reaffirm?

[ansky0007]

Exactly... that's where I am now... $309/mo. at 5.9%. The car is $7,000 upside down, though.

My issue being is that, sure, I could replace it with a used car, but to do that after a bankruptcy, I would imagine that it would be hard to find a place that would not at least want $3,000 to $4,000 down. That would simply take too long to save that up. And on top of that, pay 20% or high to boot. And then I'm stuck with a used car that I have no idea about the history or if it was wrecked, how it was taken care of, etc. Not everything shows up in a Carfax. I had a car that had $7,000 worth of damage. I fixed it all myself and none of it showed up on the Carfax, but the frame was bent and there was lots of other things that were a real pain to fix. Now if somebody Carfaxes this car in the future, they will never know how bad the accident was.

Many people abuse or neglect their cars and you would never find out about that until after a little while of driving it. My car, for the most part, drives just as good now at 65,000 miles as it did when I drove it off the lot with 2 miles on the odometer.

How much is the car worth? Is there is 7000 negative equity you might want to consider a 722 redemption loan.. Sure interest will be higher but it will strip the negative equity off of the vehicle.

[debtmonster]

How much is the car worth? Is there is 7000 negative equity you might want to consider a 722 redemption loan.. Sure interest will be higher but it will strip the negative equity off of the vehicle.

I would guess that it's worth between $4,000 to $7,000 at the auction. I owe $12,900. I know I would not be able to get more than $6500-7000 as a trade-in. It's a 2007 and has almost 66,000 miles on it.

I just checked KBB in the middle of posting this message. It said it's worth at the most $6600 as a trade-in. So I'm about $6300 upside down.

If I were to get a redemption loan at 25% and finance for 48 months, the payments would be about $218/mo. This is $91/mo. less than I am paying now. That would be pretty cool! And if I did it at 36 months, the payments would be about $262. Still cheaper than I am paying now.

This looks like a good option. At what point do you do the redemption loan? Is it after the 341 meeting? After the discharge? Before both?

So do you think GMAC would not simply knock off the negative equity and do a loan modification? Or would they just want the car back?

I know little about redemption loans.

People posting here said not to do them:

http://forum.freeadvice.com/consumer-bankruptcy-2/722-redemption-loan-118247.html

[ansky0007]

I would guess that it's worth between $4,000 to $7,000 at the auction. I owe $12,900. I know I would not be able to get more than $6500-7000 as a trade-in. It's a 2007 and has almost 66,000 miles on it.

I just checked KBB in the middle of posting this message. It said it's worth at the most $6600 as a trade-in. So I'm about $6300 upside down.

If I were to get a redemption loan at 25% and finance for 48 months, the payments would be about $218/mo. This is $91/mo. less than I am paying now. That would be pretty cool! And if I did it at 36 months, the payments would be about $262. Still cheaper than I am paying now.

This looks like a good option. At what point do you do the redemption loan? Is it after the 341 meeting? After the discharge? Before both?

So do you think GMAC would not simply knock off the negative equity and do a loan modification? Or would they just want the car back?

I know little about redemption loans.

People posting here said not to do them:
http://forum.freeadvice.com/consumer...an-118247.html

Based on what I have read you can do it from day 1 of filing.. Here is the site: http://www.722redemption.com/ its funded from US Bank so its also a good way to start to rebuild your credit since they report to the credit companies. I do not know anyone who has successfully did a loan modification on a car. 722 looks like a good way because they will negiotiate with the creditor and buy it from them. Basically GMAC will know what they will get at auction + all fee's so it makes sence to sell it to 722 for a few bucks over and they dont have to do anything. You could probably negiotate with GMAC directly but they will probably want a lump sum payment and they wont want to finance you again.

Many people have done this with more costly vehicles and after 1 year with solid payments were able to refinance with another company for less interest so its a good short term solution to knock out all the negative equity.

[debtmonster]

Yes, I found that site immediately after posting the message. I even told my wife about it and was very excited. I just hope they say "Resale" meaning "dealer lot" costs. I want it at the same price the GMAC would get at an auction, not what a dealer would sell it for. To me the car is worth $6500, not $12000.

[ansky0007]

Looks like about $500 over auction average...

http://www.722redemption.com/creditor_direct.aspx

[debtmonster]

Looks good. I think I am going to give this a shot during my bankruptcy. Thanks!