Reaffirm Question

[FearTheVisor]

Our 7 case was discharged and closed on 02/12/2006. We made it perfectly clear to our atty that we were reaffirming with our mortgage, and two cars. At the 341 the reaffirm agreements for the mortgage and one of the cars was ready and we signed that day. We have not seen anything for the other car. I asked our atty if he had heard or received an agreement for the car a week before the objection date deadline, and he said no, to just continue making payments and keep up the insurance. We have done that. Now, I was reading a post on this forum that if you have been discharged you CAN NOT reaffirm. So now what? Are we screwed because we did not sign before discharge and close of our case? What happens if we get in an accident with the car? What happens if we want to get another car? We put alot of miles each day 100+. So, it will not last forever. Any help??? Thanks.

[StaciMM]

You may be better off than you realize... You don't owe a balance to the creditor but you can keep up your payments and keep the car. If you no longer need it/want it, just stop paying and contact the creditor about them picking it up. (Or you can probably arrange to leave it at a dealership.) If you pay it off, you get the title-same as before.

AND-if you should need to refi or buy a new house in the near future, that 2nd car payment will not count against you in the DTI ratio, because you don't owe it. Having 2 car payments is rough on DTI normally, as it lowers the amount you can qualify for.

[FearTheVisor]

You may be better off than you realize... You don't owe a balance to the creditor but you can keep up your payments and keep the car. If you no longer need it/want it, just stop paying and contact the creditor about them picking it up. (Or you can probably arrange to leave it at a dealership.) If you pay it off, you get the title-same as before.

AND-if you should need to refi or buy a new house in the near future, that 2nd car payment will not count against you in the DTI ratio, because you don't owe it. Having 2 car payments is rough on DTI normally, as it lowers the amount you can qualify for.

Thanks for replying. So it is TRUE that if your case is closed you can not reaffirm? So who dropped the ball on this, our atty or us? I thought our atty was suppose to handle things like this. So, if we are even one minute late in making the monthly payment, that can repo the car right? It seems weird that Chase would not get right on the reaffirm agreement, especially since we made it clear we wanted to reaffirm. Goofy!!

[StaciMM]

True, no reaffirmation after discharge-because you can't reaffirm a discharged debt.

There are a few possibilities, but my guess is that the lender did not automatically send an agreement (not all do) and your attorney did not get in touch with them to ask for one. Keep in mind, though, that the attorney would likely have charged more to do so. The one we interviewed charged $200 per reaffirmation.

[FearTheVisor]

Ok, well since we did not reaffirm on one of the cars, what do we do when we need to get a new one? Let's say down the road we want to get a different car, would we just call the creditor and say we are giving the car back and then go and find a new car? We really would like to get a new car. While we know we will not get a prime interest rate because of the 7, I think someone would sell us a car, especially since they know we can not file BK for a long time (not that we want to, we hated having to do it), and car companies are trying to do deals. Not sure when would be appropriate to go new car searching after a Ch 7. Any suggestions?

[StaciMM]

I'd recommend spend at least a few months cleaning up your credit before applying for another vehicle. If you are upside down in the one you have (that is not reaffirmed) then do the newer car purchase right before you would have made your regular monthly payment. Call the old lender and either make arrangements to leave it at the dealership, or they can come pick it up.

If you have equity, you could trade it in same as usual.

[yorkiemom_2]

Okay, my ch 7 was discharged on 1-28-06. I reaffirmed my auto loan, but the reaffirm papers were not signed until mid January. I just received a copy back from my lawyer last week with only my signature on stating they had been properly executed.

Now, I wanting to rescend my reaffirmation. Of course, I decide to do this to late in the day to call the office and it's Friday. I read on there that I have 60 days after they are filed with the court to do so by contacting the creditor. Is it that simple. I don't know exactly when they were filed. They couldn't have been filed prior to my signature which was less than 60 days ago.

Now, if I'm able to get this cancelled and I want to surrender my vehicle, will the leinholder be able to put a judgement against me. What if I can't get out of the affirmation and I still surrender the vehicle? Can they put a judgement against me then also. Any suggestions would be helpful.

[yorkiemom_2]

I found out from the US Bankruptcy court online that my reaffirm papers were just filed with the court 2-16-06 even though the Bankruptcy was discharged in January. Looks like I'm gonna for sure be able to cancel the reaffirm agreement on my vehicle and that thing is going back. I"m $10000 upside down in it and this is the best time to get rid off it. I'm just gonna by some junker from some lot to get me by until I can get something better. At least then I'll be starting out fresh without negative equity. Has anyone on here ever cancelled a reaffirm agreement after it was filed?