ford motor credit

[blondeinmn]

Anyone have experience with ford motor credit? Already past my 341. Ford wants me to sign a reaffirmation agreement. Attorney won't sign it due to undue hardship. Short of going before a judge, is there anyway I can keep the vehicle. I am current on payments, but paralegal says ford will repo regardless if they don't have a properly executed reaffirmation. Could I borrow money from a relative to pay the vehicle off before they repo? Would this affect my bankruptcy? My discharge isn't due until mid August.

[Wrightshawn]

Whose paralegal said that Ford will repo this car? How much do you owe?

[blondeinmn]

Paralegal from my attorney's office. Vehicle is probably worth $14000. Payoff amount $8000

[mrskal]

I have heard the same about Ford, there was a thread on here a few days ago about it.

[bakergrl]

We had to reaffirm with Ford Credit because our lawyer told us that they will repo no matter if you are current. They love the fact that our cars are worth more than the kbb value so they would be quick to try to take them back. In fact, they were the only ones to show up at the 341 and we had to reaffirm right then even though we only owed about $7000 on the 2 vehicles we had through them.

[lrprn]

Ford was being a lot tougher on reaffirmations 3-4 years ago when the economy was still moving along. Since the economic downturn, Ford hasn't been as rigid about reaffirmations in most locations (but not all). They have way too many cars that have already been surrendered or repossessed over the last few years to spend precious dollars trying to get your car somehow now.

If you follow your lawyer's advice and don't sign the reaff, what could happen? As long as your car payments are on time every single month, Ford has no legal grounds to take the car. If you're smart, diligently save up your money so you'll be prepared to find and buy another car quickly *and* fight Ford in court if Ford does try to get the car without legal grounds to do so. You and your lawyer can fight that battle and win. Ford can't just take your car because they want to. They must have a solid legal reason that will stick in court to do so.

By the way, in every state it's against the law for paralegals to give legal advice, and that's exactly what yours is giving you - very bad show. Are you really going to take a paralegal's legal advice over your own lawyer's advice? Not a good plan.

Walk through this situation again with your lawyer and share what the paralegal told you. I think you'll find out that even with your car having more value than the loan, not signing the reaffirmation is still most likely the right thing to do in your situation in the long run.

[Emily1228]

Make sure you're prepared to have your car repossessed, just in case. They tried to do this to me even though I was ahead on payments. It was very lucky for me that I was off work the first two days and my car was in the garage. The repo guy called on the third day saying he had been trying to pick up my car from my job. I just hid the car until I was able to get a new one.

Even though I had heard Ford was notorious for doing this, it still surprised me, so just be cautious.

[blondeinmn]

I'm wondering right now if my best option would be to borrow money from a relative and pay it off. I could pay them back over the next year and not have to deal with this anymore. Would this affect my bankruptcy in any way? I don't need the payment for the means test and my current equity in the vehicle is exempt. I'm a chapter 7, post 341. Awaiting discharge mid August. Any issues regarding paying off the vehicle and complicating my chapter 7?

[mrskal]

I think, not certain, but if you borrow the money from a relative to pay it off, they will become a debtor in your case. Also, you say your current equity in your car is exempt, once you pay it off wont it have 14K in equity? Will that all be exempt? Of course, I am all new to this, hopefully someone else knows for sure.

[Exployer1234]

If you reaffirmed the loan then Ford can not repo the car unless you miss paying your car payments. Basically they can not repo the car since you reaffirmed the loan.

Personally I would have not reaffirmed the debt and just walked away from the car.

I would not borrow money from a relative, but rather try to sell the car and pay off the balance of what is owed. If it is your only car then I would just continue making payments as agreed.

[LSUTiger32]

I heard all the same things about Ford and they also asked me right away to re-affirm. I did not want to but also didn't want to lose the car.

If you are $6,000 in the plus on the car (worth $14K and owe $8K) I would go ahead and re-affirm. Normally I wouldn't have done it nor would I recommend it but I was in a similar position (although not as good as you) and just didn't want to take the chance. We had to go in front of the judge and prove that we could afford it.

[Wrightshawn]

By the way, you are somewhat unusual in that you have equity in your car. Most people are underwater. I don't know Minnesota substantive law nor Minnesota practice, so you should ask your attorney whether Ford Motor Credit will repossess (if you don't reaffirm) even though you're current. Here in Western Pennsylvania, the State Courts told Chrysler Financial to return a vehicle (in which there was not a signed reaffirmation agreement) because they went ahead and repossessed even though the individual was current.
The problem if you eventually sell this vehicle is that you'll have to go out and buy a car after that. There are also transaction costs of selling and buying cars that you're not counting on. So, this car may be much more valuable to you if it's in your possession.
Good luck though.

[mike258]

Check your state laws. Here in Massachusetts, a lender cannot reposes a vehicle if your a current on the payments, even if you file bankruptcy. Your state may have a similar law.

[Emily1228]

I was told that my state (Alaska) also has a law that they can't repossess if current on payments. After they tried to take my car, I contacted my attorney, who told me that they couldn't legally take it. He did say that if they did take the car, we probably wouldn't get it back without going to court. I just wanted to be done with everything, so I paid cash for an older car and told them to take the Ford. I couldn't be happier about that decision.