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[ProudMomof5]

Has anyone purchased a car after having a bankruptcy dismissed?  I'm having my bankruptcy voluntarily dismissed.  I'm almost three years in and all of my debt has been paid excpet for my parking tickets and my car.  Well my brother was in an accident on Easter in my car and totaled it.  My insurance company said it's cheaper to pay it off versus fix it so they are paying my car off which means I only have my parking tickets left.  After talking to my lawyer's office I was told that no changes could be made to my case and they would still be taking the monthly payment of $315 out of my check.  It doesn't make sense to me though because if I stay in the chapter 13 I'll be done paying the parking tickets off with the next deduction from my check but they would still collect the $315 every month for the next two years even though everything will be paid.

So he is planning to go to court to have my case dismissed so that I can purchase me a vehicle because the judge wouldn't approve the bill of sales that we submitted two weeks ago.  Now I'm just wondering how hard would it be to purchase a vehicle after having a dismissed Chapter 13.  If anyone has been through this please let me know how it went for you.

[StartingOver10]

Something isn't right here at all.

If you have paid off all of your debt early in your plan and the only thing remaining was the car and tickets. Then the car was totalled and paid by the insurance, your plan should be modified or terminated but not dismissed. I think there is a massive communication error here between you and your attorney.

There are others on this board that are much more experienced with a Ch 13. Change the title of your post so that others know to read it. The generic title means many would just skip over it. 

[SoulMaster]

The following assumes you were in a 100% payback plan:  Your lawyer sounds like an idiot.  Actually, you said you talked to your "lawyer's office" so whichever secretary you talked to was probably the moron.  CH13 plans get modified all the time.  Like, literally, every single day. 

If you ARE in a 100% plan, this is one of those times when you call the Trustee and handle things yourself.  When you explain to him/her that the car note was paid off by your insurance, your total debt will fall, and the total # of payments you need to make will fall as well.  

HOWEVER:

I'm guessing you're not in a 100% payback and that your attorney's office actually said that your payment won't change, not that the plan couldn't be modified.  If you're NOT in a 100% payback plan, then your $315 will stick because CH13 payments in non-100% plans aren't at all based on your total debt, they're based on your income.  I'm guessing this because most of the 5 year plans I've seen aren't 100% payback.

FINALLY:

Your car's arrears were probably in your 13, not the on-going or actual-principal-balance... just the arrears.  If this is the case, your insurance wouldn't have covered those (state specific rules notwithstanding) and you still owe any arrears that you owed when you filed.  <--- this was an afterthought but could be spot on.

If you're practically out of debt, and you let your CH13 get dismissed just to buy a new car you really need to rethink your priorities.  Seriously, go find a cheap car that will last you 2 years (or until you're done w/BK), and call the Trustee  (or a different attorney) to find out why it can't be modified.  Also, make sure your insurance company paid the car off... that can take a while, and nothing can be done until the balance is zeroed out.

Here is what you're about to do, just to buy a car:

• Wreck your credit for the next 7 years - A dismissed 13 is treated like a CH7... which means its on your cr for 10 years from the date of filing.

• Lift the stay - for any creditor that was going to get a reduced balance from your 13 plan... If they already sued you and garnished, that starts back up immediately.  Foreclosures re-start w/o tolling too, if you used a 13 to stop one.

• Several other bad things I can't think of right now

Food for thought  - A judge not approving a new car purchase always has a reason... Some of the ones I've heard are:  The car is too expensive; you shouldn't finance a car if you're in the middle class; you're buying new and not used (and you're in the middle class); if you have the income to buy a car, then you have the income to pay more of your debts every month... etc.   Figure out the real reason the judge denied the BoS and use it as a learning experience.

Call the Trustee... or, go pay a different CH13 BK Attorney $350 to review your case and actually advise you.  Dropping out of a 13 to buy a car prompted one of the members here to ping me in private mail to come back here and talk you out of it.  It's THAT bad of an idea.  Don't do it.  

Cheers,

-SM

Note:  The BK attorney I would normally ask to verify this stuff is in Paris; so this is all based on my experiences assisting in similar instances but not at all legal advice.  For legal advice, consult an attorney.