Appliances and Sears Credit Card

[BkinTX]

I searched the forum and have found some similar topics but nothing that really answered my question so here I am...

We purchased a washer, dryer, fridge, stove, and microwave at Sears a little over a year ago. These were all either the least expensive or very close to the least expensive available.

The purchases are split between two different cards.

The first is a Sears Charge Plus (store card).

$947 for a stove. $1263.23 for a washer and dryer. Prices include protection agreement. We got a deal for 1 year no payments. We have made maybe a couple of payments on this card.

We never dreamed last year when we bought these that we would be filing bk. This was not intentional.

The other card is a Sears Gold Mastercard.

$1,250.13 for a fridge. 129.88 for a microwave. Prices include protection agreement. We made regular payments on this card.

We listed these items in our household goods. It had previously not occurred to me that they could repo these items since it's unsecured debt, but reading on this site has made me fear that these items are a special case (store card) and they could be repossessed.

We NEED these items -- or at least we need a w&d, fridge, and stove (microwave is pretty important too!).

Any chance Sears is going to want to take these household appliances?

[JoeBankrupt33]

It seems like the purchases on the Sears Gold Mastercard are not secured because this is a regular credit card.

As for the Sears Charge Plus card, these could be considered secured, but the likelyhood that they will actually take your appliances is low because they cannot do anything with them.

I had the same situation in 2001 with a Lowe's store card. We never even heard a peep from them. We did, however, hear from a furniture store, and they sent us a letter requesting us to set up a time for them to get our furniture. We talked to our lawyer at the time, and he said it was a bluff. He was right, we ignored it and didn't even get a second letter.

[AfraidOfBK]

last year we purchased a rather expensive high end vaccum for our family (who has terrible allergies, and a daughter with lung problems)

It cost 2100 dollars. It was financed through the sales guy on a wells fargo mastercard. Is this a case where they could try and "repossess" the vaccum? I have only made a few small, random payments on it since it was one of those no interest no payments till june of 2009 deals.

opinions anyone?

[broken64]

I only know about the Sears stuff regarding our good friends that had their 341 same day as ours. They had charged alot of things from Sears and a few other companies. Sears is the only company fighting them with all of this. Our friends told us that Sears was taking them to court, bk halted that, however, there is still alot of problems on that area according to them, Sears is still persuing the issue. I only know what they are going through, I can't even tell you how much they charged with Sears. Although we discuss some of our bk issues with each other, they didn't come out with how much or what they got, and I didn't want to pry too much. I wouldn't worry too much about it though because it doesn't sound like you had gotten too much from them and the length of time since you made any purchases seems long enough also. Good luck to you.

[Moms4Boys]

last year we purchased a rather expensive high end vaccum for our family (who has terrible allergies, and a daughter with lung problems)

It cost 2100 dollars. It was financed through the sales guy on a wells fargo mastercard. Is this a case where they could try and "repossess" the vaccum? I have only made a few small, random payments on it since it was one of those no interest no payments till june of 2009 deals.

opinions anyone?

Rainbow huh? I love them!!

[Moms4Boys]

I searched the forum and have found some similar topics but nothing that really answered my question so here I am...

We purchased a washer, dryer, fridge, stove, and microwave at Sears a little over a year ago. These were all either the least expensive or very close to the least expensive available.

The purchases are split between two different cards.

The first is a Sears Charge Plus (store card).

$947 for a stove. $1263.23 for a washer and dryer. Prices include protection agreement. We got a deal for 1 year no payments. We have made maybe a couple of payments on this card.

We never dreamed last year when we bought these that we would be filing bk. This was not intentional.

The other card is a Sears Gold Mastercard.

$1,250.13 for a fridge. 129.88 for a microwave. Prices include protection agreement. We made regular payments on this card.

We listed these items in our household goods. It had previously not occurred to me that they could repo these items since it's unsecured debt, but reading on this site has made me fear that these items are a special case (store card) and they could be repossessed.

We NEED these items -- or at least we need a w&d, fridge, and stove (microwave is pretty important too!).

Any chance Sears is going to want to take these household appliances?

My stepfather file Chapter 7 years ago. He had purchased a stove on his Sears card. They told him he could give it back or pay $10 a month. They showed up for the creditors meeting.

[BkinTX]

Thanks for the input. I guess I can expect them to pursue this.

We bought a VA repo and it did not have appliances. We were in a rush/panic to get appliances for when we moved in, and of course we didn't have savings since we were on the debt treadmill.

We should have looked for bargains on Craigslist (of course that would require cash!) instead of financing all our appliances.

If they do repo the stuff it will suck but we will do what we should have done in the first place -- pay cash for used items.

[Flamingo]

I remember reading somewhere that Sears can put a security interest on certain purchases (read those sales receipts for items and/or the information sent when you obtained your credit card) and is well known for showing up at BK hearings. You may run into some issues so be prepared.

[BkinTX]

How soon would we know if Sears is going to be a problem for us? I looked at the PACER website and it didn't show any claims or anything. Of course I am not sure I understood everything I was looking at.

What is the worst case scenario with Sears and the appliances?

[downsized]

We have a similar situation and our atty told us if we don't want to take the chance on loosing it, they'll negotiate it with the creditor. Like redeeming a car, basically, only not sure if it's called redemption. He asked if we could come up with $500. We said yes and he said he'd get it done so we dont have to worry about loosing the purchase. I see you've already filed though, so ammending might not be worth it.

[bulletproof77]

Sears does have a rather sleazy attorney stationed at the Riverside (CA.) Federal courthouse. He approached us (with my attorney) and is allowed to ask one question "Do you wish to re-affirm this purchase ?" If you say no, (and of course I did, because why would I care about a dishwasher in a home I'm losing in foreclosure ?) the he'll ask your lawyer if you want to play "Let's Make a Deal". If you do, you have 30 days to pay them and you can pay at your local store, but trust me, it's a big, embarrassing deal, the clerks at customer service act like you've just robbed the store. If you wish to keep their stuff, just mail them a check. I BK'd 45K and a first and second trust deed and their the ONLY one's who objected. They are not nice people....

[Moms4Boys]

I think they just show up at the creditor's meeting. You do not know ahead of time who is going to be there, at least as far as I am aware.

[Brighterdays]

Is it a sears card or citi. Mine says sears but is financed through citi group. Sears= might have a problem, Citi=should be a regular credit card. I guess if you stalled, you could wait till sears went bankrupt first

[JoeBankrupt33]

last year we purchased a rather expensive high end vaccum for our family (who has terrible allergies, and a daughter with lung problems)

It cost 2100 dollars. It was financed through the sales guy on a wells fargo mastercard. Is this a case where they could try and "repossess" the vaccum? I have only made a few small, random payments on it since it was one of those no interest no payments till june of 2009 deals.

opinions anyone?

If you purchase something with a mastercard/visa/american express/discover, it is an unsecured debt. They cannot repossess items that you purchased with the card. So, if you truly used a "mastercard," then you're fine as long as the vacuum is exempt.

[BkinTX]

Thanks for the info, everyone.

One is a Sears store card. The other is a Mastercard. Both are backed by Citi but the Sears cards is not a Mastercard.

If we wanted to negotiate a payment, would that have needed to happen already? Is it too late for that?