Notice of Hearing: Reaffirmation On Car

[1969classic]

Hi Everyone!

My 341 meeting took place at the beginning on June. The meeting went very well, the Trustee was running at least 2 hours behind and basically swore me in, ask two very general questions and was done, stamped, finished. BIG RELIEF for me. Now I am receiving a notice of hearing re: reaffirmation agreement from the US BK Court to appear on August 11th . The hearing is to consider whether to approve the reaffirmation agreement that I have signed with my finance company for my vehicle. I contacted my attorney's office and they explained that this was a very simple hearing where a judge will just ask me if I can afford to keep my car and then court sign off the reaffirmation. Reaffirmation was filed by the finance company after my 341 hearing was completed. My attorney's office also said there was no need for them to appear with me.

Has anyone else experienced this? Can you give me advice as to what I should expect in this hearing? Much appreciated!

[NoMoreCards]

I was a co-signor on my daughters car, and because of that I did a reaffirmation of that loan as I did not make the payments. The judge simply asked why I wanted to reaffirm and then signed off on it. My lawyer was not there, and was not needed.

Judges typically do not like to do reaffirmations, so please think long and hard before you do it. Heaven forbid something bad happens, you are still liable for that loan. Some have posted here about this exact thing happening to them, and it is terrible.

Most finance companies will push for the reaffirmations, but only a few will not allow the retain and pay.

All the best, and good luck at your hearing. I hope it works out the way you'd like it to.

[tcreegan]

reaffirming car loan

Hello 1969classic,

Take your signed reaffirmation papers to court. They will want to know if this is in your best interests; why do you need it, can you afford it, and is there no other way to meet your needs.

From what I see on the forum, judges vary widely; some are easy on reaffirmations and some rarely allow them. Luck of the draw

Attorneys can sign off on reaffirmations, but rarely do b/c it is almost never in the best interest of the debtor. (and never in the attorneys best interest; they get exposed to some liability) Hence your attorney not going w/ you to the hearing.

Having the court reject your reaffirmation might be in your best interest. Different courts have held that merely attempting to reaffirm and staying current on payments is enough to keep the lender from repossessing. (Mass. state law, cases in S.C., others) As long as you never miss a payment. This is the "holy grail" of a loan in BK.....keep the car, make payments, but you are no longer legally liable for the debt and if your finances sink later (or you drive across muddy water and the car sinks), you can still walk away from the debt, free and clear.

You still have one more chance to shoot yourself in the foot........you can always make a reaffirmation agreement with your lender with or without the courts approval. The lender can change the terms. You can too, ask for lower interest rate, amortizing all the late payments, increasing the length of the loan, reducing the principal, .....all in the guise of "making this affordable for me in my difficult time". This carrys the bad of being legally liable for the debt. Some thing happens later and you can't pay, they can repo, sell at auction, and sue you for the difference between what you owed and what the car sold for (less repo and auctioneer costs)

And you still have one more redeeming grace; reaffirmations can be rescinded up to 60 days after you sign one. Then you just keep making the payment agreed upon and are protected in some places by court cases and state laws from repossession.

Good luck!
Tom in Colo

ps: does classic1969 refer to a vehicle? I have a 68 Volkswagen type III squareback, virtually complete, running fine.

[Fallonedward]

I was a co-signor on my daughters car, and because of that I did a reaffirmation of that loan as I did not make the payments. The judge simply asked why I wanted to reaffirm and then signed off on it. My lawyer was not there, and was not needed.

Judges typically do not like to do reaffirmations, so please think long and hard before you do it. Heaven forbid something bad happens, you are still liable for that loan. Some have posted here about this exact thing happening to them, and it is terrible.

Most finance companies will push for the reaffirmations, but only a few will not allow the retain and pay.

All the best, and good luck at your hearing. I hope it works out the way you'd like it to.

Does anyone know if Chase Auto does the retain and pay? If possible I would not want to reaffirm my car but I need it currently for work but if I'm downsized again then I would have trouble making payments