What does flagged your account chapter 7 bankruptcy
petition? I filed chapter 7 and am
waiting for my discharge which should be in about 3 weeks. But my auto lender
just reported this and my auto loan was not included in my chapter 7. To my
knowledge I am supposed to keep paying this payment and it shouldn’t be
included. Mainly because my fiancé is cosigned on this account and I didn’t
want it to affect her credit. What does this mean?
Answer by Jay K. Nixon, bankruptcy atty. in Kenosha &
Janesville, WI:
I am guessing that you don't have a lawyer, which is a
horrible mistake in anything as complex as a modern day bankruptcy. Atty. Bunce
lists only a few of the bad things that can happen, but the real list is much
longer and includes bankruptcy fraud investigations by the FBI, any time that
you lie on your bankruptcy schedules by knowingly leaving a debt or asset off
your paperwork. What your lawyer would have told you instead is "list and
reaffirm the car loan," assuming that the loan to value ratio on the car
was not upside down, and that it was still running well. That makes it
perfectly legal to "not include" in the bankruptcy, and is even
better for both your fiancé and the creditor, due to producing a federal court
order that the lender can continue to do business with you, and collect from
you if necessary, in the future, all with no adverse impact on your fiancé’s
credit. And, an added benefit for you of reaffirming is that if you pay on time
during and after bankruptcy; that creditor can then report your good payment
history to the credit bureaus, putting you on the road to credit score which
might actually be better than before the bankruptcy. As usual, there are also a
few other options for either keeping the car, or getting rid of it, but
attempting them on your own would probably only get you in worse trouble. You
should therefore get a lawyer now, before your discharge is issued, while he or
she can still undo some of the damage you have done to yourself with a
misguided pro se filing attempt.
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