Car loan and reaffirmation Questions???

[zmaison]

Hello,
I filed for CH 7 back in Oct of 2005 (under the old laws). My 341 was to be continued this month on the 30th Jan , due to I had listed a car that I wished to reaffirm and I no longer had at the time of the initial meeting. Long story short, My husband was the co-signer on that car(he is not filing) and I was making payments late, we had just recently reconsiled after a long separation and we were on shaky grounds still, well He became pissed off because I was making car payments late and also the bankruptcy was ruining his credit, so he took the car from me and took over the payments and just before the 341 meeting he decides to trade the car in for a new vehicle under his name only. so the old debt was paid off by the new bank, there was no money made from the transaction and there was no equity on the car the trade in value was $6,000 and the amount owed was $10,000. All this was done by my husband and the dealer without my knowledge,I found out this had taken place 3 days later. I never signed the title or anything. But the trustee was very angry this happened and blamed me of being in it. I told him several times I did not have any partake in it but he just called me a liar. And now wants the title and transfer papers to the car. Does that mean tne original title(which I do not have my husband gave it to the dealer unsigned) and the new contract for the new vehicle that shows the trade in value of the old vehicle? Why did this whole thing make the trustee so upset on an upside down car? please any info will be greately appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[bkfiler]

so tell that to the trustee. he has the power to do anything. let him get it.

you had better get an attorney imo. this trustee thinks you commited fraud.

still with the husband that took the car?

[zmaison]

I have an attorney and during the 341 meeting he kept emphasizing to the trustee that the car had no equity and the trustee just shrugged him off!! and called me a liar. I am still with my husband and he will write a statement and have it notarized that I had nothing to do with the car trade in, he will also accompany me to the upcoming 341 meeting in case the trustee wants to hear it from him in person. But basically the trustee accussed me of fraud and was very angry. Can he dismiss my case because of this? I have no assets and I really cannot pay my debts I just don't know what else to do this trustee really has it out for me.

[bkfiler]

well your case will be subjected to problems. make no mistake about it. you have a pissed off trustee. he will look at everything closely.

he will do what he wants with it. he has the power to take the car back from the new owner if he wants to take it to court. he could bring charges against you, get the FBI involved. anything he wants. it can very serious.

what did your attorney say he is going to do? he should be working this case for you. contact him.

this doesnt mean you entire case will be dismissed. it can be though if actual criminal bk fraud is suspected in this case. im not so sure it will go that far. just work with the trustee and keep telling him the facts. start colleting all documents related to the loan on the car, the value of the car, and anything you have just in case you need to help prove you didnt make money off the car somehow.

[bkfiler]

how did you 'trade in' a car that was not worth the loan balance?

if that was the case then your new loan would have taken a larger balance.

did you give the car back to the loan place and now they are billing you for a balance?

[zmaison]

bk filer,
I am not even sure, but I called the dealer and the way they explained to me was that my husband had the power to trade in the car since he was a co-debtor and that the way it worked was, they gave him trade in book value for the car which was $6,000 plus a 2,500 manufacturer bonus incentive(for the new car)the lien holder(mitsubishi motors) was paid off $12,000 by the bank that will finance the newly aquired debt,and the balance $3,500 will be added to the new debt under my husbands name. My husband tells me that he even called the original creditor(mitsubishi) to inquire about doing this and they told him that he would actually be helping me in eliminating this debt for me DUH!!! of course they will tell him that, I know it was really stupid of him for doing this but it's the honest truth. I called the dealer to ask for the title and they would not give it to me, told me that the car was sold already and when I accused them of fraud they basically just laughed at me and told me to tell the trustee to blow it off his A**! that they have lawyers and that if anyone was going to be in trouble it would be my husband

[bkfiler]

i would get your attorneys recommendations as this is a very serious matter.

[StaciMM]

Its not unusual to finance a deficiency balance w/ a new vehicle purchase.

I can't imagine why the trustee would have been upset, other than the possibility that ANY kind of major transaction would encourage him to look further into your case. One thing I noticed at my hearing-people who were married but only 1 spouse filed got much more scrutiny.

[LostOne0069]

Bring all of the contract papers with you when you go see the trustee... what it sounds like to me is that he doesn't believe you that the car was upside down... I mean... look at it from his point of view... he sees you with a car you were going to try to keep... which would usually mean that it was worth something and not upside down, then, you suddenly show up and say, "I don't have the car anymore so I'm not going to reaffirm it and you can't have it". For all he knows, your husband worked out a deal to show a trade in that was much less than it was worth and just dropped the price on the new vehicle to make up the difference. It would all be the same for the dealer.

I can't imagine that this will be hard to straighten out. Just bring the trustee proof that you owed more for it than it was worth and that the new vehicle does have the excess debt stacked on it. You need to prove to him that this was all on the up-and-up.