Should I reaffirm my house, car and HELOC in my Ch. 7 bankruptcy

[Anonymous]

Met with my attorney today to start proceedings to file my ch 7.   I have credit cards, house, car and HELOC.  The attorney said I will have to reaffirm my house car and line of credit.  Here's where my problem gets worse.  I have a credit card at a local credit union that also has my line of credit.  I was told today that I can't file against the credit card because it's attached to my HELOC which my home is used as collateral.  That I will have to reaffirm that debt as well since they are attached through the credit union.  My problem is my minimum. Payment for this damn credit card is too much for me to pay monthly and now I'm told I have no choice I will have to continue paying it.  Anyone have any answers or have you been in the same situation with credit unions and should I reaffirm my house car and HELOC?   Help!  I'm so confused and don't know what to do.  Thank you in advance

[Anonymous]

i am not behind on my house, car or line of credit.  I was told by my bankruptcy attorney to stop making my credit card payments.  Should I list my house, car and line of credit in my bankruptcy?  I'm not quite sure what reaffirming my debt is.  Should I or should I not reaffirm my house car and line of credit?

[ezdriver]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Met with my attorney today to start proceedings to file my ch 7.   I have credit cards, house, car and HELOC.  The attorney said I will have to reaffirm my house car and line of credit.  Here's where my problem gets worse.  I have a credit card at a local credit union that also has my line of credit.  I was told today that I can't file against the credit card because it's attached to my HELOC which my home is used as collateral.  That I will have to reaffirm that debt as well since they are attached through the credit union.  My problem is my minimum. Payment for this damn credit card is too much for me to pay monthly and now I'm told I have no choice I will have to continue paying it.  Anyone have any answers or have you been in the same situation with credit unions and should I reaffirm my house car and HELOC?   Help!  I'm so confused and don't know what to do.  Thank you in advance

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What exactly is your reason for filing ch7? The credit card seems to be more of a debit card used to draw money from your line of credit. Is there a 1st mortgage on your house or just the home equity line of credit? Sounds like the jist of the attorney's advice is that you should not be filing for ch7 bankruptcy. Do you qualify for ch7 bankruptcy?

[ezdriver]

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@Anonymous wrote:

i am not behind on my house, car or line of credit.  I was told by my bankruptcy attorney to stop making my credit card payments.  Should I list my house, car and line of credit in my bankruptcy?  I'm not quite sure what reaffirming my debt is.  Should I or should I not reaffirm my house car and line of credit?

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Why the double post? STick with one thread if you want good responses.

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

If you owe money on those three accounts, they have to be listed in your BK petition.  That's the law.

Most attorneys advise their clients against reaffirming any debts.  Generally you can keep your car and house so long as you continue to make the payments and you will get title when the loan is paid off.  They just can't come after you should you stop making payments (they could foreclose on the house and take the car).  There is just no reason to reaffirm credit card payments.

[Anonymous]

As a general rule, do NOT reaffirm a mortgage or car. Especially if you're current on the payments. Why would you want to obligate yourself to that debt when you have a chance to literally wipe your slate clean?

If you're current with the payments, just keep making them like you intend to keep the house/car. Very rarely will they foreclose or repossess when you're making monthly payments on time. And then if you ever run into a situation where you want to walk away from the house/car, you can do so without worrying about paying for anything.

We didn't reaffirm our car but have stayed current. The plan is to save up for two $6-7k, used vehicles and then walk away from our car payment. That extra $400/month will be awesome to have.

[StartingOver10]

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@Anonymous wrote:

i am not behind on my house, car or line of credit.  I was told by my bankruptcy attorney to stop making my credit card payments.  Should I list my house, car and line of credit in my bankruptcy?  I'm not quite sure what reaffirming my debt is.  Should I or should I not reaffirm my house car and line of credit?

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If you really want to reaffirm your mortgage, your car loan and your line of credit - then you need to rethink filing bankruptcy at all.

There is not enough information in your post to offer any sort of advice, but the entire purpose of filing bankruptcy is to release the debt. Reaffirmation of all of your major debt (mortgage, car loan and credit line) is contrary to the purpose of bankruptcy.

You can achieve a similar result (possibly) by working out your debt issues with each creditor instead of filing for bankruptcy.  Or file Ch 13 and not Ch 7. Or go to daveramsey.com and work on your own beans and rice type budget.

I am totally surprised that the attorney has said that he will help you with the reaffirmation of these major debts.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for responding......I am filing because of huge credit card debt......as far as the credit union, I have a platinum visa and a HELOC with them which is a second mortgage.so I have two mortgages.  My attorney is saying that since I have a credit card with the credit union. Plus the HELOC I have to continue making those payments towards the credit card.   I can't afford the minimum payment and was thinking I could include it along with my other cards in my Ch 7.  So the attorney is telling me I have to reaffirm my house, car, HELOC and now the credit union VISA. The whole reason I am filing is to erase my credit card debt.  Should I reaffirm any of these items per my attorneys advice? If I don't make payments on the credit card can they take my house. from what I can gather is that the credit unions are different than banks, credit card companies and fall under rules when it comes to bankruptcy.   

[StartingOver10]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you for responding......I am filing because of huge credit card debt......as far as the credit union, I have a platinum visa and a HELOC with them which is a second mortgage.so I have two mortgages.  My attorney is saying that since I have a credit card with the credit union. Plus the HELOC I have to continue making those payments towards the credit card.   I can't afford the minimum payment and was thinking I could include it along with my other cards in my Ch 7.  So the attorney is telling me I have to reaffirm my house, car, HELOC and now the credit union VISA. The whole reason I am filing is to erase my credit card debt.  Should I reaffirm any of these items per my attorneys advice? If I don't make payments on the credit card can they take my house. from what I can gather is that the credit unions are different than banks, credit card companies and fall under rules when it comes to bankruptcy.   

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I responded to the other thread without having read this one first. I see now that you have a crummy attorney if he gave you the advice to reaffirm all this debt.

You are getting very bad advice from your attorney.  First, find another BK attorney. Get some real advice. In fact, find 2 or 5 or 10 Bk attorney's and interview each one for their knowledge of handling your specific situation.

• Make sure the attorney is NOT A TRUSTEE NOR A FORMER TRUSTEE. You want an attorney that has handled Bk's for debtors - not the creditor side.
• Don't get one of those noob Bk attorney's that belong to Bk "mills" (those are the one's that advertise on late night TV and bus benches). In general you won't get good representation - you are just a file and they rush you in and out.

You can file Bk against a credit union, I did. It is true that the debt is cross-collateralized but that doesn't mean you have to reaffirm everything. I had a cc, 2nd mortgage and a car loan with a credit union and did not reaffirm anything but the car (because there was only a few payments left).

Let me ask you this:  are you behind in your mortgage payments or are you current?

What do you owe on your mortgages and what is the value of your home?

Give us a little info and maybe we can better assist you with an analysis of your situation. Sometimes you can be too close to it to see the best resolution (one of those can't see the trees for the forest type situations).

What is your income?

What is a basic breakdown of your debt?

In which state are you located?

These answers will help us help you.

[gdale6]

Hi there OP and welcome to myFico  

I have merged your two posts into one here, it is best to only post 1 thread on the same subject as it can lead to confusion by the members. Thanks for your understanding.