Ch7 closed but repo man still knocking

[pipedown]

My friend filed Chapter 7 and closed on that whole process a few months ago. Recently, a repo man has come around looking to take her car. I saw one sheet in her paperwork showing this debt as relieved but the lender will not issue a lein release and is trying to repossess it.

Assuming they can do this, Why can they do this?

What should I look for in her paperwork stack to show the real status of the car?

[ameliabedilia]

If she included the car in her bankruptcy and they relieved her of her debt, she still has to give the car back. You can't just keep the car and not pay for it.

[pipedown]

"You can't just keep the car and not pay for it. "

That's my position too but she is of the type that needs to be shown why she is wrong. I was looking for a more technical explanation

[tradewiz50]

The repo man cometh and taketh away!

[keepmine]

"You can't just keep the car and not pay for it. "

That's my position too but she is of the type that needs to be shown why she is wrong. I was looking for a more technical explanation

If you wish to keep secured assets, you must stay current on the loan. That's just common sense. Your friend needs to get in the real world.

[woeisme]

Is this technical enough... Tell your friend that CH 7 discharges her UNSECURED debts, but secured debts, such as a vehicle loan, are not the same thing. If she reaffirmed her loan, and continued making payments on the car, she might be able to keep it in Chapter 7, but if she didn't do that, and hasn't paid the full amount of her SECURED debt on the car, the loan company has every legal right to repossess the vehicle.

If she's paid say $5000 on the car, still owes $2000, and they repo it and sell it for $3000, I think the company would owe her $1000 back (minus their fees for the sale) but if she owes more than what they can sell it for, then she's out of luck.

Ask her if she thinks that she would be able to keep a house if she owed 25 years worth of morgage payments still on it after a Chapter 7. It might wake her up to the idea that there's a big difference between secured and unsecured debt and CH 7 relief isn't a free ride from any and all financial obligations. Heck, if it worked like she's thinking, then why wouldn't everyone buy a house and a new car right before they file CH 7 so they could keep them for free? Totally insane logic on her part.

[SinkingFast]

The Lender is still entitled to retain custody of the underlying Security Interest for the loan.

In this case,............ The car is the underlying Security Interest for the loan.

Even tho your friend's liability for the debt was Discharged in BK doe not mean she gets to keep the car for free. The car belongs to the Lender.