Secured loan with no lien filed

[anon_va]

My BK7 was discharged in January. I have a car worth about $10,000 and I owe about $8600. I did not reaffirm the loan but I kept the car and have never missed a payment.

I discovered that even though the car loan was originally issued as a secured loan with the car as collateral, the creditor never had themselves added as a lienholder on the title. (I owned the car free and clear when I took out a loan on it in 2004. I signed a limited power of attorney for them to add themselves as lienholder but they never did.) I checked it today and the DMV shows me as the sole owner with no liens.

This came up because the creditor is jerking me around about reporting my payment history so I was thinking about refinancing with another company to help me rebuild my credit.

Does anyone have a guess as to the implications here? I'm wondering if their goof (and bad attitude) gained me a free car.

[no_it_all]

My gut tells me the creditor has indicated in the orginal loan documents that there is a security interest in the vehicle. BTW, how would refinancing rebuild your credit?

[SinkingFast]

My gut tells me the creditor has indicated in the orginal loan documents that there is a security interest in the vehicle. BTW, how would refinancing rebuild your credit?

By carrying the original loan thru BK, the auto loan Lender would report positive payment comments on the Credit Reports. But they evidently having been doing that. A refi could get Anon with a Lender that will report thus helping him/her reestablish credit post BK.

I know. Hard concept to wrap your brain around. It's not BK Code. It's Life after BK, living with the fall out, and trying to rebuild your life.

First thing,............ Check your BK paperwork and see if the debt was discharged. Probably an oversight that the Dealership didn't file the appropriate paperwork properly.

The doctor didn't sign our son's birth certificate for nearly a year. He forgot. The hospital didn't even realize the error until we needed to apply for a Soc Sec number for our son and couldn't get his birth certificate from the county seat. We called the Hospital, they dug thru their files, and there it was, unsigned by the Doctor.

If you can get the DMV to issue you a free and clear title, I'd say you have a car gratis of the Lender. All that can happen is the DMV says no. It's worth a shot.

[anon_va]

The original loan documents say that the loan was secured by the car. The docs included a limited power of attorney so they could add themselves as lienholder on the title at DMV. Now I find that they never did.

I have the original title from DMV in my possession. No liens.

To clarify, I fully intended to pay out the contract and assumed they would report my positive payment history. Now I find they will not because I didn't formally reaffirm. I was considering refinancing with another company to build credit history. Now I find out the creditor did not perfect the lien on the car. It seems that essentially, it is a signature loan - why would I want to refinance that?

I want to add that I am concerned that since I did not formally reaffirm, they could come take the car, causing me to lose my equity in it.

Since I have the unencumbered title, I could go and sell the car today and pocket the cash...but what about repercussions? Could the creditor really do anything? Could the BK7 case be reopened?

I realize this is an unusual situation. I appreciate the guidance.

[SinkingFast]

That's a sticky situation to be sure.

We had one loan, we took years ago, as a "signature loan" from our bank. It was a gap thing to replace the heat pump now when we knew we had money coming down the road. We didn't even have the loan more than 2-3 months before the money came in and we paid it off.

When I printed out the Credit Reports for the attnys for filing BK, I happened to see that loan. So long ago, secured against furniture and other personal items, and such, that at first I didn't know what it was. And then I remembered. It was the "Signature Loan" we'd taken out. But it seems the Bank added all the Household goods as Security for the Loan without our knowledge.

Look thru your BK Paperwork. Be sure that loan was included and indeed discharged as a debt in your BK.

Also, go to

http://www.annualcreditreport.com

Pull your Credit Reports and see how the loan was reported in your Credit Reports prior to filing BK. See if anything interesting turns up there. It will be interesting to know if the Lender did indeed report the loan as secured by the car.