Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Georgia
I signed into a reaffirmation agreement for my car loan prior to discharge. I have never received any info from the court saying that was either declined or approved. After discharge I couldn't keep up with the payments and surrendered the car. I understand that once sold at auction liable for the difference which I cannot afford because im unemployed. So if I reopen my chpt 7 again. Will the judge allow me to cancel that agreement (once reopened) or include that debt on my chptr 7? Please help
2 Answers from Attorneys
As I am sure your Chapter 7 lawyer has told you, you cannot reopen a Chapter 7 after discharge to rescind a reaffirmation. Indeed you cannot do another Chapter 7 for 8 years.
Assuming you had counsel, and were not foolish enough to represent yourself, your reaffirmation was binding once 60 days elapsed from its signing, assuming you and your creditor signed and it was filed with the court.
If your lawyer did not sign the agreement, or if you were foolishly representing yourself, the agreement had to be presented to the court for okay and that was decided at a hearing you were told to attend. (There is a special rule for credit unions that waives this hearing).
Every single thing I posted was already told to you. If you had a lawyer he told you. Additionally, the reaffirmation agreement (you did read it, didn't you?) also said the same things. And, if you were pro se, the court gave you a detailed booklet about reaffirmations which offered you free legal counsel.
Having said all this, if you had a lawyer, see him. If you don't have one, see one now. But no, you can't reopen the case, and the determination of whether the agreement is valid depends on things in front of you that you did not share with us.
Never walk into any courtroom without counsel. And your decision to surrender the car, without first seeing a lawyer, was also a mistake.
In addition, to address things you said when you posted the question a second time, you said it "sounds ridiculous" the bank can come after you when they sold the car at a loss. What exactly do you think you agreed to in the loan documents? Did you read and understand them before signing? If not, like your reaffirmation, you should have never signed. You say in the other post you are a poor unemployed college student living with your parents. A lender may be fine waiting for you to get a job. To be blunt, you have made a disaster of your finances at (presumably) a relatively early age, and you still do not understand the basics -- such as reading and understanding what you sign. A class on basic personal finances would do you well. Treat this as a harsh lesson and learn from it.
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