Reafirming house and car

[livingdream]

I have filed Chapter 7 and have my court date for June. I am keeping the car that I have a loan on and house.
I have always paid my payments online through the lenders' website and they have now blocked that access. I just called the car loan lender and they tell me that I can either mail a payment or make my payment through my bank's checking account bill pay. Is there any risk in me setting up bill pay with my bank?
Thanks for your advise!

[SMinGA2]

Most lenders block the online access (thru their own websites) because the information contained could be considered an attempt to collect a debt, which would violate the automatic stay. Using your bank's online bill pay is a different situation. Its customer initiated, so a purely voluntary payment. Should not have any issues.

Making voluntary payments is not the same as reaffirming though. Discuss in detail w/ your attorney if you intend to reaffirm.

[AngelinaCat]

Making voluntary payments is not the same as reaffirming though. Discuss in detail w/ your attorney if you intend to reaffirm.

Very true. Livingdream, you may want to consider the advice in this thread: http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.ph...rming+bad+idea

[livingdream]

My attorney and I agreed that we are reaffirming the house and car. Both of them I owe just about what they are worth and we want to keep the house and the car. Getting rid of the unsecured debts will make so that we can afford those payments.
I am leaving it in my attorney's hand to handle what is best. I figure she has a lot more experience than I do and knows what she is doing. So far, it's been just as she has stated....
We'lll see if it all continues to go well.
Thanks for your help!

[AngelinaCat]

Please say that your attorney is located in any city other than a college town whose mascot is a large green reptile. That is where our attorney is located, and she did NOT prepare us well.

[keepsmiling]

Please listen to the advice given here and do NOT reaffirm. Everyone here has your best interests at heart and had BTDT.

[LadyInTheRed]

I am leaving it in my attorney's hand to handle what is best. I figure she has a lot more experience than I do and knows what she is doing.

You should never blindly follow your attorney's advice. You are your own best advocate and you need to understand the issues and be the one to make all final decisions. If she advised you to reaffirm your car loan and mortgage, you should ask her why and make sure you agree with her reasoning. You may be able to afford your home and car now. What if that changes later?

As AC can tell you, attorneys don't always give the best advice.

[NoMoreCards]

You should never blindly follow your attorney's advice. You are your own best advocate and you need to understand the issues and be the one to make all final decisions. If she advised you to reaffirm your car loan and mortgage, you should ask her why and make sure you agree with her reasoning. You may be able to afford your home and car now. What if that changes later?

As AC can tell you, attorneys don't always give the best advice.

I can't agree more. When I filed, my attorney advised against reaffirmation and I wanted to keep my house. It took this site to help me understand why I should not reaffirm. Fast forward to today. I ended up intentionally letting my house go into foreclosure and purchasing a foreclosure for cash. I now have no house payment. Life happens. Don't strap yourself with this debt, because if you ever decide to leave due to "life happening" you CAN!! You don't have to, but the option remains as long as you DO NOT REAFFIRM. By reaffirming, you lose one of the best benefits to filing.

There have been many on this site who have reaffirmed, only to deeply regret that decision down the road. Please, please look into this and do not blindly take the advice of a attorney. Should something happen down the road, it is you who will pay the price of reaffirmation, not your attorney.

All the best to you

[ksgirl38]

Most lenders block the online access (thru their own websites) because the information contained could be considered an attempt to collect a debt, which would violate the automatic stay. Using your bank's online bill pay is a different situation. Its customer initiated, so a purely voluntary payment. Should not have any issues.

Making voluntary payments is not the same as reaffirming though. Discuss in detail w/ your attorney if you intend to reaffirm.

I realize this is kind of off topic, but do all lenders block access once you file BK? I have a car loan which I'm not reaffirming and not including in the BK, but just wondering if I'm going to have to prepare to mail payments in from now on. I'm so used to doing all my transactions online that I'm just wondering if I'll have to change that.

[LadyInTheRed]

I realize this is kind of off topic, but do all lenders block access once you file BK? I have a car loan which I'm not reaffirming and not including in the BK, but just wondering if I'm going to have to prepare to mail payments in from now on. I'm so used to doing all my transactions online that I'm just wondering if I'll have to change that.

Not all lenders block online access, but many do. Using your bank's online bill pay is a good alternative to mailing a payment.

You must include all debts, including your car loan, in your BK. You can continue to make the payments, but the debt will still be included and will be discharged if it is not reaffirmed.

[AngelinaCat]

If the party that is blocking your online access is the lien-holder for your car note, you may have to reaffirm the car note to get the online access back. If that is the case, and you decide not to reaffirm, then your bank's bill pay is a good way to go. Just be sure that your checking account and the car loan are not both at the same institution.

[ksgirl38]

Not all lenders block online access, but many do. Using your bank's online bill pay is a good alternative to mailing a payment.

You must include all debts, including your car loan, in your BK. You can continue to make the payments, but the debt will still be included and will be discharged if it is not reaffirmed.

I was told that I didn't need to include my car in the BK since I'm current on all payments. It's financed through the manufacturer, does that make a difference?

[ksgirl38]

If the party that is blocking your online access is the lien-holder for your car note, you may have to reaffirm the car note to get the online access back. If that is the case, and you decide not to reaffirm, then your bank's bill pay is a good way to go. Just be sure that your checking account and the car loan are not both at the same institution.

I don't have any loans currently through my bank. I was told that the car wouldn't need to be included and would be separate since there are no late payments. Basically I was told it would be viewed the same as my student loans. Is this not correct?

[AngelinaCat]

I cannot speak regarding student loans, as we didn't have any when we filed.

However, we did (and still do) have a 2004 WV Jetta, that we still owed about 10-12 months on when we filed. We had to include that, even though we were current with the payments. It was financed through our CU, and 'Hub wished to remain with that CU, as he had done business with them for nearly 40 years. So we reaffirmed in order to do that. We also had our checking account with them.

We were a Ch7 case, and we had to list all of our debts. We were also warned that if we entered into any side agreements to pay a debt outside of the BK, that we would risk having our case dismissed.

[LadyInTheRed]

I was told that I didn't need to include my car in the BK since I'm current on all payments. It's financed through the manufacturer, does that make a difference?

You were either given incorrect information or you misunderstood. All of your debts must be included in your bankruptcy, regardless of who the creditor is. If you owe them money, they get listed on your petition, receive notice of your BK and the debt is discharged unless you reaffirm or there is some exception to discharge (not likely for a car loan). The lender will still have a lien on the car if the debt is discharged, but you can usually keep paying without fear that the lender will repossess the car.