Does anyone know how to keep your car in a chapter 7 bankruptcy?
wendy l asked:
My husband and I are filing joint bankruptcy pro se (self filing). He has a old truck we own free and clear. I have a car that is worth about 4000 that I owe $300 that is past due on. I know we are only allowed $1250 for a vehicle. Is that each or total? What is the law or exemption that will let me keep my car? Any ideas or suggestions? Does anyone know where you can find bankruptcy laws like that without a lawyer? Thanks!!
I know about reaffirming but I only owe $300 and that is past due. Can I still reaffirm on that?
I know about reaffirming but I only owe $300 and that is past due. Can I still reaffirm on that?
What you can keep in Bankruptcy differs state to state. For a complete list, try
If it is financed, my attorny told me that you can reafrim with the creditor and continue paying and you can keep the car…I did and still have my car.
I was told by a lawyer, that if you have 2 licenesed drivers in the house, then you are allowed to keep 2 cars. 3 drivers, 3 cars. I don’t know for sure that was what i was told. Good luck, my husband and I are thinking about filing ch. 7. hope it works.
You can reaffirm on the car…but once you do so it is as if you didn’t file bankruptcy on it…so it would need to be current or they could still repo the vehicle.
It is well worth the $1000 to pay a lawyer to file the bankruptcy…if you do not get the formula right and you have filed a chapter 7 when you should have filed a chapter 13 you have doubley screwed yourself…because you can file bankrptcy only once every 10 years…and that is regardless of whether the bankrptcy is discharged or not. And they handle all the notification of creditors and are required to take any phone calls from creditors. Creditors are MUCH more likely to contest a pro se bankrtpcy than a standard lawyer bankruptcy because they know you are not equiped to deal with it…
When we filed for bankruptcy, we had 2 cars and 2 drivers so we got to keep them both.
You should try everything you can to keep from filing, it’s a nightmare and will affect the next 10 or more years of your life. Try Prosper,, it’s a site where people borrow and lend money to other people, no banks, mortgages, they are unsecured loans.
Good luck
look i know you said you did not want to involve a lawyer – but i have learned one thing about bankruptcy from answers is that right off the bat you get a lawyer!!!