Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Ohio

My and husband and I decided in August that we need to file Bankrupcty. We seen 3 different attorney's that said Chapter 7. We wanted to keep our truck, but was told because the truck was financed at a credit union and we had credit card debts with the same credit union that we could not re-affirm the truck. One lawyer suggested we try to refinance the truck elsewhere (but he said he is not suppose to suggest that). Anyways, we couldn't refinance because our debt to income was too high. We decided to try and trade it in for another truck being it seems easier to get a loan thru the dealership rather than going to a bank. We got to the dealership looking for a used truck. They could not approve us for a used truck due to the interest rates being around 18%, but were able to approve us for a brand new truck because of a promotional rate on the new trucks of 2.9%. We winded up getting a new truck. Our thought was if we got a truck after bankrupcty the interest would be so high, we would be paying just as much on an older truck. Now I'm questioning if what we did was right... or did we just make a huge mistake. I'm beginning to feel we made a bad decision. The new truck is $37k w/ payments of $670. Our old truck payments were $570.


Asked on 10/07/09, 10:36 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Patrick Conway Patrick J. Conway LLC

If you filed for chapter 7 you may be required to give up the truck.

In my experience, if you can afford a $670 month truck payment, the court will not give you a chapter 7 discharge. The reason is that chapter 7 debtors must show an inability to pay back their debts in order to qualify for a discharge of their debts. A $670 per month truck payment is not a reasonable expense for most people.

Read more
Answered on 10/07/09, 10:45 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Bankruptcy Law questions and answers in Ohio