New here, questions about creditors and car loans

[hmsmith]

I am so glad I found this forum, and thanks to everyone who shares their stories, it has been very helpful to read them.

My husband and I are filing a Ch 7 and we filed 3-5-12, and we had our 341 meeting 4-20. The meeting went well, better than expected because according to my attorney we had a "difficult trustee" but it went very smooth.

Anyway, I have a couple questions/concerns. We bought a new mattress May of 2011 and it was around $1000 (this included a few extras like mattress cover, frame, etc) and I paid them $100 a month up until October of last year. I am guestimating that we paid them at least $500 towards the mattress. They actually sent our attorney a reaffirmation agreement saying that our mattress is still worth about $500!!!! WTH?!?! My attorney said he has NEVER had this happen on a mattress, and as of right now we are just ignoring them. He has said that Best Buy wil sometimes do this on a laptop or something and usually they tell them "Well come pick it up then" and Best buy never does. That's what we are hoping for in this case. I mean, who wants a USED mattress? My attorney also said that the mattress company would have to pay $200 just to file this with the court and then at the most, they could come and pick up our mattress. Why would they do that over a used $500 when they would already be out $200? Overall I am not too concerned about it, I guess if they come and take it, I'll deal with it then, but I am NOT paying them $500 to keep it! I was just wondering what your thoughts were on this and if anyone had this happen?? I do not have money to go out and buy a brand new mattress either so I'm hoping they just go away!

2nd, does anyone typically have problems from creditors after the 341 meeting? My attorney said that creditors have 60 days to dispute (we are a no asset case) and of course I am still worried that we will be one of those unlucky ones they will dispute. My attorney said the longer creditors wait, the less likely it is they will fight, and we stopped paying our bills about 6 months ago. Thoughts or experiences?

Last, we have 2 cars and we don't know what to do with them. Mine is a lease and the lease is up in October of this year so I only have 6 more months to pay. I was going to reaffirm to help my credit, however i am concerned when i turn it in that they will hit me up for dings on the car and the cracked windshield. so we plan to keep paying on the loan, maybe they will let us keep it but we won't be bound by any agreement to pay anything when turned in. If they pick it up sooner then it won't be much of a loss to us anyway. My husband's car however, we owe 55 months left and $24,000. The car is worth around $20,000 and our rate on it is pretty good at 4.1%. However I am a little concerned because Fifth Third won't negotiate at all...they won't lower our rate or lower the amount AT ALL, despite my attorney's attempts. I even tried calling the car redemption company to see if they could save us any money and they actually would be more expensive. My dilemma is we NEED at least 1 reliable car, so we need to reaffirm at least 1 of them. Plus it will help our credit. Honestly I don't know what to do and neither does my husband. Since we need 1 car, it doesn't make much sense to reaffirm the leased car since the lease ends in 6 months, and it's not a good family car anyway, it's too small for us. The other car which we have 55 months remaining to pay on, is a Honda CR-V, and we know this car will last a long time. We want to keep it and run this car until it dies hopefully 10+ years from now. But I'm really ticked that fifth third won't lower the rate to zero or the principal to the amount it's worth. And it's a long time to continue paying on. What are your experience with reaffirming car loans? Were you happy/unhappy with your decision? Do you still get a grace period on that loan? We definiately can afford the pymt, but i always use the grace period, and I have a crazy fear that once we reaffirm, and if we were to pay it one day late, that they will tow it, and then we'll be legally bound to pay off a car we don't have. WO]ould they really take it if we were a day late or are my fears a bit unrealistic? Thoughts, or experiences?

Sorry this is so long and thanks for reading.!!!!!

[btbeme]

My opinions; others will surely chime in with theirs...

1. Ignore them. They will have to file with the court and receive a writ of replevin to reclaim their mattress. On the slim chance that they actually do this, you can call them and tell them to come get it, as the cats have really made a mess out of it and it looks terrible sitting in the front yard in the rain (but you just couldn't stand the smell anymore).

2. This is rare. Usually they will show up to the 341 and make a spectacle. If they feel that they have a strong case for fraud they will usually have filed paperwork already, but if your atty said that you have no worries then you have no worries.

3. Reaffirm nothing. Stay paid in full (and do it before the due date). After discharge you can contact the bank and tell them you intend to continue payments. Don't expect them to do much of anything for you as far as a refi goes. I don't have any experience with fifth/third to know if they are hyper-aggressive about repos on non-reaffirmed cars. Others may know, and might have different advice.

[Drazil65]

If you do not reaffirm then you are off the hook for the more expensive and longer payment plan. The car is already underwater. If you keep paying until after discharge you might want to consider surrendering after that point. You will not believe how many offers you will receive to purchase a car. Get something a little older and cheaper, less money for payments. That way you can choose how many more months you will want to be on the hook for a car payment. We averaged at least 3 offers to purchase a vehicle starting the week before discharge, some of the rates were not bad considering. The good thing about not reaffirming is that when you are through with the vehicle they can come and get it or make arrangements to drop off. Good Luck.

[hmsmith]

thanks for taking the time to reply. We are still leaning on reaffirming the car, at least it will be help our credit and we plan to keep the car long past it's payoff. And to be able to afford another car we would probably have to finance 60 or 72 months, which is longer than our current payoff of 55 months. Again, thanks for responding!

[tripbuddy]

1. We had Springleaf try that tried that with, of all things, our FURNACE! We called their bluff, told them they'd have to let us know even they are sending smeone to tear it out, and we would let them in. Never heard another peep.

2. No creditors showed at our 341. We even had a few small purchases that were kind of close to our filing date.

3.When our bk7 discharged (7/2011), we reaffirmed nothing. I JUST paid off hubby's car this week. The other vehicle we had bought right before filing. We didn't reaffirm it, either. I owe 4 more years on it! So we didn't help our credit any, but I also have no credit obligations to ANYONE!

[SMinGA2]

With the car lease - talk to your attorney, but I believe its a different situation than with a loan. You either need to reject or assume the lease. If you reject, you give the car back and they can't come for any deficiency. If you assume then you keep the car and follow the original terms. Meaning they can charge you for damage, or being over on miles.

For most car loans, you can keep paying (without reaffirming) and you'll be fine as long as you keep the payments current. Most lenders don't negotiate with you.

[hmsmith]

thanks tripbuddy, the creditors never cease to amaze me! A furnace is a bit more costly, and also a necessity!! But a USED mattress, UGGH, it gets me mad every time I think about it!!! All I do is worry and I will be *so* very glad when this is all over. 47 more days until our 60 days are up, feels like F.O.R.E.V.E.R.!