Questions after attorneys appt yesterday reaffirmation ?s

[basketsbears]

Hi,

We met with attorney yesterday and plan to file last week of June or first week of July (depending on my June income).

W talked about reaffirming house, cars etc. Since we are upside down on house, she suggests not reaffirming the house, which we weren't going to do anyway. The cars she feels if we do not reaffirm, will be repo'd. They are both financed with Ally. She said we could try and redo terms and see what happens. I thought we could just "ride though". I know there is a possibility of them being repo'd if we do not reaffirm, but was just going to chance it.

My questions are - anyone not reaffirm with Ally? Are they Ok if you just keep paying, or will they come and get vehicle? Our attorney said she wasn't familiar with Ally. Also has anyone been able to change terms on a reaffirm agreement and been happy with that?

My husband wants to keep both vehicles. I'm not sure, I wanted to just do a drive through.

Thanks!

Lynn

[HHM]

Your attorney would know better the risks in your area for Ally (or any lender) to actually repo. It is actually common.

the issue is this, if they were repo'd, what is your alternative.

[keepmine]

What is your equity position in the cars?

[basketsbears]

If they were repo'd we would have to purchase beaters if repossessed them before the BK was closed.

We are probably about a few thousand upside down on one vehicle, the newer one, when I have compared prices seems not to have dropped that badly. Except, it is a big truck and if gas keeps going up, the price will plummet. So probably upside down on both.

I keep thinking (haven't convinced husband) that to truly have "fresh start" it would be nice not to have any payments, but house payment. When I finish school (May 2013), will start having to pay student loan debt in 2014, so would like to not be strapped when all that comes around too. Although, I will be back to working full-time at that point.
Thanks!

[btbeme]

Although, I will be back to working full-time at that point.

See, thing is, lots of people are here reading these forums because this prediction didn't come true.

In my opinion, a fresh start means planning for the worst and being able to live within those boundaries. Bad things happen to good people, and the worst time for it to happen is 7 years away from being able to request another Fresh Start.

And don't even get me started on the whole student loan thing...my opinions are well documented herein.

[malf1204]

I did not reaffirm with Ally. They actually send me an "informational" statement each month and it says right on the statement. "Your loan has been discharged in Bankruptcy. You may continue to submit your monthly payments and retain your automobile. If you fail to submit your payment by the due date your automobile may be repossessed" I believe they have an official policy but you can call them and ask.

[memama]

My husband and I met with our attorney at our first meeting asking about reaffirming our camper. Even though it's upside down by about $2000, we figured that if we didn't reaffirm, we would lose it and that would be bad. Our line of thinking is that if all goes to hell, it's a $127/month place to live. Yeah.

Our attorney asked us why we would be so dumb as to reaffirm-go back on the hook when we could just keep paying and keep our camper. We explained our line of thinking, but he did have a great point. We decided not to reaffirm. However, even if we would have, we were informed that the judge here in my county seldom, if ever, allows reaffirmation agreements. He doesn't want to see bankrupt people going on the hook for *another* loan; if you don't have the ability to pay your current one, you should not be allowed to have another loan.

Sometimes reaffirmations can really work to your advantage. Our attorney told us about a reaffirmation he did about five years ago (while the judge was still allowing them) on a man's motorcycle. The guy owed around $8000 on the motorcycle, but the cycle was valued at around $3500. They negotiated with the bank (for an additional fee, of course) to reduce the principal on the motorcycle to $3000 and at 0% interest for 5 years. The bank accepted the offer, the man walked away with his motorcycle and some crazy low payments.

Also, we were told that our camper loan is with a credit union that is notorious for pushing reaffirmation agreements, and if no agreement is reached, they take back your property. Well...our attorney has not received any communication from the credit union regarding a reaffirmation. My husband and I went in to the branch to make our May and June payments and aside from needing a supervisor to "okay" the payments, we had no issues. So perhaps the credit union got the message that the judge doesn't allow reaffirmations??? Either way, it's been working out for us so far, and like I said, we're supposed to have a credit union that really pushes reaffirmations.

I would talk to the bank and see what their policy is, like someone else suggested. If you are that worried about the vehicles being repossessed, then talk to the attorney about negotiating a reaffirmation for the appraised value of the vehicles instead of what you owe now.

[basketsbears]

I did not reaffirm with Ally. They actually send me an "informational" statement each month and it says right on the statement. "Your loan has been discharged in Bankruptcy. You may continue to submit your monthly payments and retain your automobile. If you fail to submit your payment by the due date your automobile may be repossessed" I believe they have an official policy but you can call them and ask.

Thanks for letting me know that. I will probably just ask the attorney to put retain and pay or something, unless she works out some great agreement with them.
I am glad to know that they haven't taken your vehicles.

[basketsbears]

[QUOTE=btbeme;572825]See, thing is, lots of people are here reading these forums because this prediction didn't come true.

In my opinion, a fresh start means planning for the worst and being able to live within those boundaries. Bad things happen to good people, and the worst time for it to happen is 7 years away from being able to request another Fresh Start.

Thanks for the advice! The field I am in hasn't been hit as hard as some others, but like you said there is no guarantee that I will find work. I haven't read your posts on the student loans, and I won't get you started, but I am somewhat stressed about those as well. I keep thinking (I'm 54) if I stretch the payback as long as I can, I can just keep paying them, and they will probably out live me! Ha!

[basketsbears]

My husband and I met with our attorney at our first meeting asking about reaffirming our camper. Even though it's upside down by about $2000, we figured that if we didn't reaffirm, we would lose it and that would be bad. Our line of thinking is that if all goes to hell, it's a $127/month place to live. Yeah.

Our attorney asked us why we would be so dumb as to reaffirm-go back on the hook when we could just keep paying and keep our camper. We explained our line of thinking, but he did have a great point. We decided not to reaffirm. However, even if we would have, we were informed that the judge here in my county seldom, if ever, allows reaffirmation agreements. He doesn't want to see bankrupt people going on the hook for *another* loan; if you don't have the ability to pay your current one, you should not be allowed to have another loan.

Sometimes reaffirmations can really work to your advantage. Our attorney told us about a reaffirmation he did about five years ago (while the judge was still allowing them) on a man's motorcycle. The guy owed around $8000 on the motorcycle, but the cycle was valued at around $3500. They negotiated with the bank (for an additional fee, of course) to reduce the principal on the motorcycle to $3000 and at 0% interest for 5 years. The bank accepted the offer, the man walked away with his motorcycle and some crazy low payments.

Also, we were told that our camper loan is with a credit union that is notorious for pushing reaffirmation agreements, and if no agreement is reached, they take back your property. Well...our attorney has not received any communication from the credit union regarding a reaffirmation. My husband and I went in to the branch to make our May and June payments and aside from needing a supervisor to "okay" the payments, we had no issues. So perhaps the credit union got the message that the judge doesn't allow reaffirmations??? Either way, it's been working out for us so far, and like I said, we're supposed to have a credit union that really pushes reaffirmations.

I would talk to the bank and see what their policy is, like someone else suggested. If you are that worried about the vehicles being repossessed, then talk to the attorney about negotiating a reaffirmation for the appraised value of the vehicles instead of what you owe now.

Thanks for the information. Our attorney did talk about trying to reach an agreement where they reduced the loan, etc. If we received a great deal, then we may reaffirm, but otherwise will just keep paying until we see how things turn out.

[Tater]

Hi Lynn,

We aren't with Ally but we discussed the pro's and con's of reaffirming a vehicle last week with our attorney when we filed. She is not in favor of it unless she can get a good deal. Yet, in our state, they can take the vehicle if we don't reaffirm even if we are current on the payments. She hasn't seen this with our lender and we are less than two years away from owning it outright. She told us it probably wouldn't be worth their expense since the car is almost five years old. It does worry me at times though since we are giving up our old car but it has major issues. We filed Tuesday and we are already starting to get car loan offers in the mail...Sheesh! Our plan is to just pay and stay as we are current on the car. We have lost our online access already but I have changed bank accounts in the last month and stopped the automatic withdrawal from the old account. Our loan is through the old bank but I will pay through online bill pay through our new bank.

[basketsbears]

Hi Lynn,

We aren't with Ally but we discussed the pro's and con's of reaffirming a vehicle last week with our attorney when we filed. She is not in favor of it unless she can get a good deal. Yet, in our state, they can take the vehicle if we don't reaffirm even if we are current on the payments. She hasn't seen this with our lender and we are less than two years away from owning it outright. She told us it probably wouldn't be worth their expense since the car is almost five years old. It does worry me at times though since we are giving up our old car but it has major issues. We filed Tuesday and we are already starting to get car loan offers in the mail...Sheesh! Our plan is to just pay and stay as we are current on the car. We have lost our online access already but I have changed bank accounts in the last month and stopped the automatic withdrawal from the old account. Our loan is through the old bank but I will pay through online bill pay through our new bank.

Yes - our attorney feels if we do not reaffirm they will repossess. I just think it is crazy to do that in our position. She is not advising that, just to let her know what we want to do. Right now counting insurance, we are paying at least $1500/month in just vehicles. Going through all of this really makes me stop and think WTH were we thinking! (Pardon my language!)

So, I am willing to just gamble and see if Ally lets us keep paying until we figure what we want to do for sure. If not, I would perhaps buy something either a beater or something much less expensive, but reliable when this is over.

Thanks for the input!