Legal Question in Bankruptcy in California

Attorneys don't cost, they save you money. We know the local judges and Chapter 13 trustees, and what they will let you get away with as far as paying or stiffing your creditors. (Hint: You might be able to discharge all or a large part of your unsecured credit card debt.) But anyway, 1. Usually not, but there are exceptions. 2. I don't believe you need to provide for interest on unsecured nonpriority debt in your plan. If you were to put your secured auto loan in the plan, you would need to use the "Till" rate which is, I think, 6%.

It seems that you might not even need to do a Chapter 13 depending on your income if all you have is unsecured non-priority debt. There is also a question as to whether a three year plan is possible. Chapter 13 is quite a complicated type of case so that the money you are saving by not hiring a lawyer might cost you a lot, not to mention the mental distress of going at it blindly. Also, don't count on being able to get a lawyer to represent you after you file since you might not be able to find one to fix things.

I can't imagine any reason why you would want to file a claim for an unsecured non-priority claim but a lot more information would be needed to make that determination. Usually no interest is paid to unsecured claimants. In some areas you might have to include the vehicle loan in the plan since the trustee might require it. You might be able to pay only the value of the vehicle and not the balance of the loan if you are upside down on the vehicle. The interest rate could be 5% but that is negotiable. A lawyer would know what the particular lender usually accepts. Good luck...