Appliances and Sears Credit Card

[Pizza]

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?

A little extra piece of info for you... I had the regular Sears Card years ago and on the back of the card it read "Sears National Bank". I'm wanting to say it was around 2002 or 2003 that it changed over to Citibank.

The reason this should make a difference is because when it was owned by Sears itself, the store had a special interest in what was being discharged. Now that it's owned by Citi, I would believe that Sears would get their money at the time of the transaction and the debt would be between you and Citi. Sears has NO reason then to care whether you pay back the bank, since you don't owe SEARS any money. CITI might care about recovering the money, but they don't want your appliances (and the debt is unsecured like any other credit card debt).

The same principle applies when you hire a plumber and pay him using your MasterCard. It's between you and the card issuer, and if you don't pay, you'll never hear from the plumber because he's already been paid. Had you gone on a payment plan with the plumber himself on the other hand, he'd be after you.

Hope that this helps.

[inpain66]

Sear is the WORST of the creditors. They will likely come to your 341 and also hire people to call you a loser and scum outside the building.

They also call relatives and neighbors!!! they are real scumbags.

I know this cuz my parents had issues with them. They were in a debt repayment plan with all their creditors but SEARS refused to participate so my parents got sued n everything!

[frustrated7]

We filed 4/1/09 and had our 341 today. None of our creditors showed up, and in the 45 minutes I watched of cases before ours, none had a single creditor show up. We had Sears, Best Buy, and Home Depot credit card debts we are discharging (as well as other cards)...not a peep from any of them. While we still wait another 60 days for discharge, our attorney said he almost never sees them try anything in this area. They don't really want your several year old stuff and around here seldom bother trying to get it back.

[Brighterdays]

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?

wait to see if they object. Dont tip your hand until they do. Chances are they may not do anything. I doubt they have any use for 1 year old used stuff. The trustee might want the stuff, but your lawyer can help you with the values when you fill out the paperwork. Chances are nothing will come up. Best buy sends a threatening letter asking for reaffirmation or their stuff back, but that is as far as they go. They never ask for anything else.

[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?

[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.

[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

[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.

[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....

[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.

[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?

[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]

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.

[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.

[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!!