Can Reaffirmation Agreement be Filed After Discharge?

[casablanca]

We filed our Chapter 7 BK in August, the 341 was at the end of September. We signed a reaffirmation for our Ford Motor Credit Loan at the 341. I never thought about it again after that. We were discharged 12/1. I realized I had never received a copy of the reaffirmation from our attorney, so I contacted their office for one. I got a copy, along with forms that were obviously meant to be filed with the court. I checked PACER, and no, nothing on the reaffirmation was ever filed. My attorney's office checked with FMCC, who said that they had never received the reaffirmation. The attorney's office assures me they are rectifying this, but can the reaffirmation be filed with the court now that we are discharged? The last thing I need is a repo man trying to take my car (which appears to be exactly what Ford does if you don't reaffirm).

Thanks for any help.

[shark66]

AFAIK, there can be no re-affirmation after the discharge.

You don't owe anything for the vehicle in question right now, and you most likely never will, at least not on paper. That debt has been discharged along with the rest of them.

That being said, I doubt that Ford would prefer to repossess the vehicle to you continuing to make payments even without any signed agreement, but I might be wrong on this one having no first hand experience.

It does cost them quite a bit to actually re-possess and re-sell the car, so I'd be talking to them about the options...my hunch is that they don't really want it back...

Good luck.

[SunshineGal]

I asked our attorney a similar question and he said we could re-open the BK to file the reaffirmation agreement. Now the question becomes do you really want to reaffirm the debt.

[debee]

I second what Sunshine said.

Also, Ford doesn't automatically repo every vehicle that isn't reaffirmed. I've read elsewhere on this forum that if the loan value is around $4900 or less, they don't require an agreement. There have been people on this forum with low value Ford loans who were able to ride-through.

[tobee43]

I second what Sunshine said.

Also, Ford doesn't automatically repo every vehicle that isn't reaffirmed. I've read elsewhere on this forum that if the loan value is around $4900 or less, they don't require an agreement. There have been people on this forum with low value Ford loans who were able to ride-through.

i third SG's sentiment on this one...it's certainly NOT worth opening up a possible can on worms....

[tcreegan]

Hi casablanca,

Your attorney should be able to take care of this w/ FMC w/o re-opening the case. If you are current on the payments (and haven't let the insurance lapse) this should be a fairly simple negotiation. Since you weren't the one to drop the ball, I would hope your attorney and FMC work something out that doesn't penalize you......

In the meantime, congratulations on your discharge!!

Tom in Colo

[casablanca]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, we want to reaffirm the car as we are not upside down and it is a 0% interest loan, so there's no reason not to. We do owe more than $5,000, so I would imagine they will not allow the loan to ride through. The BK case is showing the status as awaiting closing, so hopefully something can be worked out. Our attorney has been excellent so far, hopefully he will be able to get FMC to fix this.

[AlmostAmos]

If your attorney does not work something out with Ford, your car WILL be repo'd. Just take a look @ my thread about my experiences (also have a loan w/ Ford). Within a month of discharge, your file will undergo a management review by Ford's BK department. If the loan amount is over the limit ($4900??? I don't know) and there was no reaffirmation SUBMITTED TO THE COURT (not necessarily approved) - it will be repo'd in less than a week. This agreement MUST be filed with the court, whether you sign it or not is another story. As said before here on the site - this is the "performing your intention" or "performing on the contract". You COULD see if you could reopen the case and file an unsigned agreement in hopes that the judge denies it for obvious reasons. Believe me, I've been there!

[casablanca]

If your attorney does not work something out with Ford, your car WILL be repo'd. Just take a look @ my thread about my experiences (also have a loan w/ Ford). Within a month of discharge, your file will undergo a management review by Ford's BK department. If the loan amount is over the limit ($4900??? I don't know) and there was no reaffirmation SUBMITTED TO THE COURT (not necessarily approved) - it will be repo'd in less than a week. This agreement MUST be filed with the court, whether you sign it or not is another story. As said before here on the site - this is the "performing your intention" or "performing on the contract". You COULD see if you could reopen the case and file an unsigned agreement in hopes that the judge denies it for obvious reasons. Believe me, I've been there!

It was your original thread that made me double-check whether the reaffirmation had been given to Ford in the first place, and I'm glad that you posted your experience, so thanks . Our attorney has contacted the FMC customer service and the Ford attorney to let them know our intentions, so hopefully he can get this worked out. Here I thought we had done everything correctly, and now I'm having nightmares of repo men in the dead of night, good grief.

[casablanca]

I thought I'd update this thread in case anyone runs into a similar situation. Apparently our bankruptcy judge has a rule that she will not, under any circumstances, allow a case to be reopened to file a reaffirmation agreement, so we are SOL with getting one on paper. FMC, for their part, has agreed that we can continue to pay and drive, but will not put this agreement in writing, and will not report positive payments to the credit bureaus. Out of all of the negatives involved in bankruptcy, this was the one positive thing we had going forward, and I am, well, let's see, shall we say upset at this entire situation. We have an exemplary history with FMC, including this loan, and because their own attorney screwed up, we will most likely never be able to finance with them again. Bah Humbug.